WikiHow: Made up words

My adventures in world building led me to a related WikiHow article called "How to Create a Made Up Word". 

This is something I absolutely want to do. It would be like Frindle, which is a book I haven't thought about in years, but seriously, what a great concept.

The article provides two methods: borrowing a word, and creating your own word.

Let's start with borrowing a word.

1. Start with a portmanteau

A portmanteau is apparently what you get when you mash two words together to make one word. The example given in this case is smoke+fog=smog.

It says I should make a list of my favorite words, but I think I'm just going to make a list of random words and see what I can come up with. Obviously, I will be consulting a random generator, in this case, randomwordgenerator.com. 

Canvas, fashionable, revolution, appetite, pull, scale, crisis, ignore, wheel, spirit. 

"canvasolution" - an artistic revolution involving canvas paintings
"Fashiontite" - an appetite for fashion
"Crisnore" - ignoring a crisis

Okay if there isn't already a board game where you take a list of random words and make as many words with definitions as possible, there should be. Who wants to help me create it? We could start a Kickstarter campaign or something.

2. Borrow from other languages

I already do this all the time because my brain never can settle on just one language and both English and Spanish can be expected to come out of my mouth at any given moment. I don't really consider borrowing from another language to be making a made up word, because it's already a word, it already exists.

I do however really enjoy the suggestion to watch a movie in a language you do not understand without subtitles and write down what you think it sounds like they're saying and use that to make up a word. This sounds like a fun game which I may pursue at some point. 

3. Turn an object into a verb 

I'm just gonna leave this Calvin and Hobbes strip here. 

4. Take suggestions from a small child

Honestly this seems like pretty much the same strategy and listening to another language you don't understand, and that language in this case is either babbling or imagination. If anyone could make up a really cool new word to bring into the world, it would be a child.


From here it continues into "Method 2: Creating Your Own Word", but I'm not going to elaborate that method because it appears to want me "understand how words are created" and I don't feel like digging out my notes from that linguistics class I took in college. I think it's safe to say that we all understand enough about how words work to string some sounds together and think up a definition.

Making up words seems like a silly, whimsical activity, but people do it all the time. Authors especially seem to be the ones who are able to make them stick. Shakespeare, for example, made up a bunch of words all the time (or at least used them in a work of theater for the first time) and a lot of those words you probably use on a pretty regular basis. Like these 13 Words You Probably Didn't Know Were Invented By Shakespeare for example, including "gloomy", "majestic", and "frugal". 

Here's a Mental Floss video of John Green listing a bunch of words invented (or at least recorded in a book for the first time) by authors.

There is also this much shorter list  of 13 Words You Probably Didn't Know Were Coined By Authors if you don't want to listen to a 7 minute video on the matter.

There are however plenty of authors who do in fact practice whimsical word creating, like Dr. Seuss, or my personal favorite and nonsensical hero, Roald Dahl. Here is a list of 50 Amazing Words Roald Dahl Made Up, many of which I would like to incorporate into my everyday vocabulary.

I guess there is no way of knowing if any of these words were used before they were recorded by authors, let alone who was the first to use them, but I don't particularly have any suggestions of how to resolve this problem, unless someone finally gets around to inventing time travel, so I'm okay with giving the credit to the authors for now.

I also think that in our modern day society the internet has more to do with creating new words and presenting them to the general population. 

This is the part of the blog post where I get overwhelmed by all the things I could possibly say about the topic and I have to stop. I hope you have a wonderfying and stupendelous day. 

WikiHow: Create a World

Recently I have been reading children's books at an alarmingly rapid rate and I've discovered that the books I love the most are the ones that take place in a world outside of our own. (Recent example: the Five Kingdoms series by Brandon Mull.) 

When I was a kid, I had my own imaginary world. Creating a fantasy world is one of those things that I wish I still had the imagination for, but it would appear that in spite of of my imaginative tendencies, I unfortunately do not. 

Instead, I'm going to combine two of my favorite things, WikiHow and random generators, and see what kind of world I can come up with. 

I found three related WikiHow articles, How to Create a Fictional World from Scratch, How to Create a Fantasy World, and How to Make Your Own Fantasy World, and I'm going to pick and choose my favorite steps between all three because they all have their own strengths and weaknesses and also levels of practicality. 

Mostly I'm going to try to use fantasynamegenerators.com because usually I can find pretty much everything I'm looking for in one of their generators. Most generators give me 10 options and instead of listing all of them every time I'm just going to pick my favorite and move on. Let's get started.

How to Create a New World

1. Name your world.

This actually was not the first step in any of the three articles but I'm going to start here anyways. 

Fantasy Name Generators has an entire category of almost 100 different place name generators, including castles, graveyards, sky islands, amusement parks, and pizzerias. I'm going to stick with the last one on the list, which is called "world names" because that seems the most straight forward. 

And the winner is... The Drifting Forest. 

(There are other place name generators that use made up words as names but that kind of stresses me out because I don't know how to pronounce it and I should really know how to pronounce the name of a place I invented.)

Okay, so we have our name. What's next? 

2. Decide what the landscape of your world is like.

I'm not going to lie, I was unprepared for how much my brain wants to fill in the details and not just stick to the generators, but I'm just going to let it happen. 

The Drifting Forest is exactly what the name implies. It is a forest that just floats around in the sky above an endless void of nothingness. 

But let's investigate a bit further into what this forest is like. I'm going to use the generator called "forest descriptions". 

"The forest was small, crowded, and ancient. Its canopy was ruled by linden, beech, and fir, and ample openings let enough dancing beams of light through for disorderly plants to burst from the fertile soils below. Coiling branches dangled from a couple of trees, and a range of flowers, which were unique to this region, spruced up the otherwise dark backdrop. A variety of beastly noises, which were caused by foraging animals, reverberated through the air, and were strangely synchronized with the barrage of noise coming from a waterfall in the distance."

Sure. We've got a forest with unique flowers and beasts and a waterfall. Into it. 

I'm imagining several hidden villages within the forest. My brain is heading in the direction of Warriors but without the cats.

The descriptions category of generators has opened up a whole new world of opportunities and I'm tempted to backtrack and make a bigger world and have The Drifting Forest just form part of it, but I think for now I'm just going to power through from here and then maybe later replace the endless of void of nothingness with an actual place. 

3. Make countries.

Or in this case, villages. I considered using a random number generator to decide on how many villages to create, but I think we can all agree that 4 is the correct amount.

These ones I had to modify a bit because the descriptions also included the landscape, which we have previously established, and also what kinds of people live there, which I plan on establishing separately. I also deleted some of the repeated language within the description because it's unnecessary.

The village of Fool's March has rare resources.The village itself looks crude. With its blackened rooftops, black wooden walls and broken roads, Fool's March has a gloomy atmosphere.The main attraction is the cemetery.

The village of Eviana has hidden tunnels.The village itself looks stunning. With its bamboo rooftops, sea grass walls and amazing sunsets, Eviana has a bizarre atmosphere. The main attraction is the inn.

The village of Easthaven has ancient lost technologies.The village itself looks humble. With its ceramic tile rooftops, ebony wood walls and calm and quiet collection of ponds, Easthaven has a intriguing atmosphere.The main attraction is the library.

The village of Farwater has magical properties.The village itself looks worn. With its galvanized steel rooftops, murky wooden walls and whistling wind, Farwater has a eerie atmosphere.The main attraction is the wishing well.

I have realized that this process could literally go on forever. I mean we're just talking about a single forest and I already have four villages and distinct cultures to develop, as well as how they relate to each other, and probably also design a map and write out the history of each village... There's just so much to do and I will never have the time or patience to cover it all. I'm overwhelmed just thinking about where to go next. 

I think that's the reason why as an adult I can't just up and create an entire fantasy world as easily as I could as a kid. I get too caught up in all the details and all the many pieces that go into it. I can't just accept it as it comes along, allowing it to change and grow with my imagination. 

I guess I'll just have to settle for reading books intended for those who still have the imaginative capacity to create worlds from nothing. 

Street Art, Time Lapses, and Yarn Bombing

I've recently been reading about street art because I'm supposed to lead a Spanish conversation class on the topic and it turns out that it's incredibly fascinating. 

I didn't really know where to start because I hadn't really put much thought into street art before. Usually when I thought about street art I pictured train cars covered in spray paint, sometimes just for the sake of vandalism, sometimes beautiful and meaningful works of art.

I started thinking about the purpose of street art. There are some pieces that convey political or social messages, but there's also street art that seems to just exist for the sake of art alone, which I think is my favorite thing about it. It's a very versatile art form and even when it's not telling a story or expressing an opinion, it's still sharing a bit of color with the world, which I think is something this world needs more of. 

This of course depends on the context. There's a lot of street art that's beautiful and brings color and life, but there is also street art that brings hate and destruction of public property. I am torn about whether or not in both cases it is still considered art. 

So then I started looking into specific street artists, and came across some pretty cool stuff. 

For example, "Cekis" is a popular Chilean street artist living in New York. I love seeing the murals especially, like the one featured in this video, because it's crazy to think about how much time and planning went into it. 

A friend of mine suggested that I look into Christian Awe, a German street artist and I came across this next video. It's a completely different style, and a fascinating process.

Another one of my favorites that I found is another Chilean artist known as INTI. He creates a lot of similar characters that I find very interesting.

Now I've been absorbed into the world of street art time lapses on YouTube but then all these famous street artists got me thinking about what it really means to be a street artist and if people who are famous for it and do it legally are still considered street artists, and I'm pretty sure they are, but it is definitely a bit different, and there is also definitely something to be said for anonymous street art which gives of a more spontaneous vibe and the secrecy of it all is almost part of what's coolest about it, but anyways I started overthinking it and had to change gears a bit. 

So I start thinking about other types of street art, like music or sculpture, or interactive installations, and I come across something called "yarn bombing" which I had never seen or heard of before in my life but several of my friends who have spent more time in big cities around the world say they've definitely seen examples and for whatever reason it has me fascinated. I think it's because I don't really understand it.

If you are like me and are oblivious to the concept, "yarn bombing" is pretty much just street art with yarn. It appears to be the art of covering stuff with colorful crochet projects, like trees, or bicycles, as if they were cold and needed a sweater. 

There is a possibility strong possibility that I like it because as we've previously established I really enjoy looking at pictures of trees.

Conclusion: Street art? Into it.

Actual Young Readers Book Reviews for People who Actually Want to Read the Books

We’ve discussed the fact that I’ve been reading a lot of young readers novels recently, so I thought I would sit down and give you my actual feedback on what I actually thought about them, instead of just providing a bunch of nonsense about dragons and cats. These are some of the books that I’ve enjoyed the most so far.

I've provided links to thriftbooks.com because that's my favorite place to buy books. 

Cold Cereal by Adam Rex
Adam Rex is the same author who brought us The True Meaning of Smekday, which is definitely on the list of my top 5 favorite books of all time, so I pretty much knew I would love it going into it. Cold Cereal is the story of a young boy named Scott and his genius friends Erno and Emily who must work together to save the world from the Goodco Cereal Company and their attempts at world domination. 

Cold Cereal provides a nonsensical situation, filled with adventure and mystery and, of course, giants and leprechauns and rabbit men. One of my favorite things about Adam Rex's books is that he tends to tell the story not only through the actual text of the story, but also through "bonus features" like, in this case, the history of the Goodco Cereal Company, or official company documents. These extra touches enhance the story beyond the expectations of the reader. 

This book is weird, and it's silly, and is perfect for anyone looking for a weird and silly book about corrupt cereal companies.

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein

This book also had me hooked from the beginning. It's a lot like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory except a library instead of a chocolate factory and a slightly different take on the competition aspect of the story. For anyone who loves books and loves libraries, Mr. Lemoncello has created the library of your dreams. 

The library definitely takes a more modern approach to things. The kids in the library seemed more interested in video games than in books and there was a lot of "new library technology" instead of just a library that comes to life on its own. The technology aspect did take away a bit of the magic for me, but I also understand how this way it is probably more relatable for its actual target audience. 

I definitely appreciated Chris Grabenstein making an effort to put some magic back into books and reading for kids of today, even if it took the temptation of fancy technology to get their attention. And I will say that by the end of the book, many of the characters were definitely more excited about reading instead of just all about video games. 

The Last Kids on Earth by Max Brallier

Think Diary of a Wimpy Kid but in a zombie/monster apocalypse. I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would, because to be honest I was never that into Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but The Last Kids on Earth got to me for a couple of reasons. 

First of all, bonus points for creative monsters instead of just zombies all the time. It helped distract a bit from the general cliché of the situation. Plus it made the illustrations a lot more fun. Second of all, those kids have a super cool tree house and I want. Third of all, bonus points for a reformed bully and a girl who can stand on her own two feet and needs no rescuing. 

I mean it's definitely not the greatest book I've ever read, but I also definitely enjoyed it. The sequel, The Last Kids on Earth and the Zombie Parade, got even weirder and definitely had more of a plot, and I enjoyed it just as much, if not more than the first one. It's a fun little adventure series if you like monsters and gross things and also you're 10, or me.

The Magic Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris

Mostly I picked up this book because it said Neil Patrick Harris on it and I was curious. I mean his autobiography was fun and kinda like a game and it was a book for adults, so I assumed his book for kids would be even more fun. I was right.

I will say that I'm probably a bit biased on this one because magicians and circuses are two of my favorite topics for a book, and The Magic Misfits has both. It's a pretty creative concept though. Books about very impressive magic tricks instead of real for real magic is a refreshing change of pace. It also has its fair share of impressive and appealing settings, like a circus, a magic shop, and a fancy hotel. It made me care about the characters and their stories, bonus points for a character with two dads, as this is something I feel is lacking in most children's literature and it upsets me.

The Magic Misfits also includes instructions for how to do a few magic tricks, as well as a few secret messages for the reader to decode, which is always an added bonus. 

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

The whimsy and imagination of Nevermoor is impressive. The world of Morrigan Crow on its own is mysterious and fascinating to compare and contrast with our own, and that's before she's whisked away through a clock tower by a mysterious man in a giant mechanical spider vehicle to the secret world of Nevermoor to live in his magical hotel and avoid death while competing for a place in a prestigious organization called the Wundrous Society. 

I don't really know what else there is to say about. It was the kind of book that made me stop every chapter or so and comment out loud to myself about how much I loved it. Nevermoor is the kind of world that terrifies me but also that I very much would like to visit. I think I gasped out loud at every new piece of information about it. Jessica Townsend created an original story within an original world and I enjoyed every word of it.

These are just a few of the books I've read most recently. Mostly I just like books, and stories, and stories that are really pretty weird. I would also like to mention that all of the books listed above are the first books in a series, which I think is pretty much just the standard these days, especially for young readers.