Suiting Language
To Genre and Setting

When you write a novel, you probably don't think about the language you use.

I don't mean English as opposed to Spanish or Italian (or whatever your native tongue might be). I mean the style of words, the rhythm of sentences, the flow of ideas.

Different genres sound different. If you don't believe me, read a romance, an epic fantasy and a hard-boiled sleuth mystery. Without even knowing the story line, you'll hear the difference on the first page.

How do you make sure the words you use are appropriate to the subject and setting you've chosen?

By making a match.


A Suitable Match

You can make your novel leaps and bounds better by reading plenty in the genre you've chosen to write in. And get specific. A Gothic Romance sounds different than a modern-day romance. A lot different.

So figure out the sub-genre you're aiming for and study it. Then imitate the language used in your chosen sub-genre - without copying phrases! No stealing lines for your own books. That's for liars and cheats. You want your novel to be great on its own merits, right?

You'll need to practice, at first, before the right tone will flow more easily from mind to fingertips, but once you've written for awhile in your genre, it'll become second nature to do so in a voice that blends seamlessly.

The parts that don't sound that way first time through are easy to edit into proper voice afterwards, so don't fret if you can't churn it out in a first draft. Few can.

Challenge yourself by experimenting with turns of phrase that suit the genre.

For instance, I try to tie the way my characters phrase things into language that reflects their world of music. Several of my characters use a musical figure of speech , which suits both the genre I'm writing in, and the specific setting.

Here's an example: He looked as taut as an over-tightened violin string.

Do the same for your genre and setting, and your readers will be drawn more deeply into the world you've created.


Inventing Yourself

One of the things you do when writing a novel is reinvent yourself. Admit it, small parts of you go into nearly every character you create - good or bad.

That's great. That's how it should be.

But...

You need to develop your own voice, distinct from other authors, and distinct voices for your various characters.

You do this with careful language planning.

When I was first writing my fantasy series, all my characters sounded not only alike, but like me! (Scary thought.)

They also sounded a lot like my descriptive prose used everywhere else in the books.

Hmmm. That would never sell.

So, I began playing around with words - literally, in some cases - and changing the voices of my characters to suit them and their personalities. Along with the genre and setting.

Big task? Not if you read a lot, first. You'll get so you "hear" the language being used instinctively, and it'll start falling out of your fingertips naturally.

Practice. Daily. Even if only a page at a time. Play with your words. Try rewriting one paragraph half a dozen ways until that "aha!" moment strikes and you know you've got it.

Then repeat the process until it starts coming without thinking much about it.


Inventing a Language

One of the things I find far too amusing to do is to make up foreign words. After all, I'm writing fantasies, the world is different than this one, so my characters can't speak Russian or Japanese (especially since I can't!).

So I make up words.

But again, this is a double-edged sword. If you write in a genre that tends to be "foreign" in world-creation, don't think you can splatter your pages with words you've made up. Your readers will give up long before they understand what you're writing.

If you do make up a language, keep the words you use to a minimum. Only use them when it makes no sense to do otherwise.

Then be sure the meaning is clear from the context (or a couple words of explanation). Otherwise, you shouldn't be playing with words that way.

If you do go this route, offer a glossary in the back of your novel for your readers to look your words up. Fantasies quite often have character and word glossaries in the back. Not many other genres do.

So, to recap, keep your language usage appropriate to the subject, genre and setting you've decided to write about.

Then you'll have happy readers who'll keep coming back for more!