i think abt this constantly and like with everything in 'worldbuilding' i end up vibes-forward. you can't actually make a real fictional place; you can't imagine language outside of history; you are building a Feeling of something within the reader on the basis of what they do and don't recognize
evan dahm
I’m glad to see that so many other writers have been running into this exact problem, at least
Gray Writes!
The trouble with being a fantasy writer for me is where to draw the line with regard to orphaned etymology — obviously you can’t have characters say “Jesus Christ!” in a world where Jesus never existed, but does using words like “democracy” imply the existence of Ancient Greece??
