Are You Writing Serious Fantasy? II

[Aiwendil]

Sirithheruwen wrote:

I will also address my language, since it has been commented on many times before (not mine, but language in general on this thread.) It is called Isca-augay, which translates directly into "scribe-language". It is only used mainly in old scrolls and ceremonies. Now, I'm no linguist.

My advice is that unless you are a linguist, or a very knowledgeable amateur, you avoid making fictional languages a critical component of the story. Tolkien was onto something with his idea that a world must be thoroughly self-consistent (which includes the evolution of languages) to be believable - even if the reader doesn't notice it.

Of course, I'm not saying you shouldn't use fictional languages at all. I'd just avoid overusing them.

1) How do you overcome gender barriers? For example: my 4 protags are female, being as I'm female. My problem? I don't know how to write a male character. I've tried, and I've failed miserably. Any advice?

Males and females aren't really fundamentally that different. I think you can probably write male characters better than you realize. You may be over-analyzing your own writing.

On the other hand, I'm fairly miserable at writing fiction, so maybe you shouldn't give my advice too much credence.