Drugs in Fantasy (Part One)

Some level of drug consumption is almost universal in fantasy. Whether it is ale or pipe weed, or less common (but becoming increasingly so) stronger narcotics. There are two common attitudes to drug use in fantasy, both of which generally take drug consumption for granted, and rarely provide any social commentary on their use.  The first relates to ‘legal’ drugs in our own culture. These are typically consumed in a casual context and rarely cause problems (except the occasional tavern brawl). The second is ‘illicit’ drugs, or rough equivalents to illicit drugs, in our own culture. Their use is almost always problematic and typically results in the user being pushed to the fringes of society. Both of these approaches tell us nothing about other cultures, but rather they tell us that our fictional cultures are heavily informed by our own closely held cultural values (which is never the less interesting, but may not be in alignment with the author’s intentions).

Create Fantasy Languages: Part One

One common feature of a lot of fantasy world’s (particularly more epic/high fantasy) is that they contain at least one invented language or glossopoeia. These languages can give a world greater depth and realism, although poorly constructed languages can end up just sounding/reading like gibberish or a clone of Sindarin and Quenya. The tradition of inventing fictional languages owes much to Tolkien who was passionate about languages from a young age.

However, I myself am not a linguist nor even bilingual. As such, I always presumed that I would leave the detailed construction of languages within my world/s to people with a lot more experience. After all, Tolkien had a passion for language, and IMO, every author should endeavour to write about what they already know. For me that is cultures, social theory, history, and ecology. To attempt to force the creation of language seemed artificial and like a feeble effort to walk foot steps Tolkien. It seemed to me that it was better to have barely conceived languages than poorly conceived ones.

However, when I started this blog and researching more of the world creation resources available, I came across Holly Lisle’s ‘Create A Language Clinic.’ And I couldn’t help but think ‘what self respecting world builder wouldn’t at least try to create a new language/s.’ Especially as I began to browse through her book, I felt assured that the process was easy and not nearly as time consuming as I had imagined.