Hey all, I came across this great resource and figured I'd share. I know there's a fair few of us writing fantasy, and often we struggle with fitting dialect and speech to the atmosphere of the book. As in, not making the characters sound too modern in a medieval style world, for example. Anyway, here's a good website for using Thieves Cant, should you have any thieves or slum-dwelling people in your book. http://pascalbonenfant.com/18c/cant/ And if anyone else has found a good resource for fantasy writers, feel free to share it on this thread.
Well. I'm just going to contribute a little then. Here is a link on a bit of advice in terms of designing medieval cities. I find it helpful when designing cities. also, here is another regarding the demographic within a town (added to WF resource, see link at end). very useful when looking at jobs, and what exists in a town. both of these a guides have been made more so for Dungeons and Dragons. But the same logic and basics apply. Edit: For ease of use, I have added it to the WF resource section since I could not find it. See it here
Also: I have just recently found this: https://kennethjorgensen.com/worldbuilding/resources which may or may not be useful at it is just a big list of resources. Instead of uploading each seperately, I might just link it here.
I have the book and it's not quite as useful as you might think. The problem with most of the words and phrases you'll encounter (which btw, are exceptionally well organized), is that they're practically unintelligible to a modern ear. Remember, authenticity is all well and fine, unless your readers have no clue what certain characters are saying. Many of the words and phrases are so utterly foreign to our ears that even within an obvious context or situation, they are near impossible to decipher. My advice, especially if you're writing YA Historical Fiction, use the book sparingly. You only need to evoke the time period, not wallow in it. Also, don't be afraid to use words and phrases, even cliches that aren't true to your time period. They only need to have the blush of authenticity to work. One of my characters says, "Hell's bells!" an exclamation that first appears several decades after 1792, the setting of my WIP. My editor made note of it, but she said we should keep it as it doesn't draw attention to itself. I'll tell you though, the best resource for getting your head into the time period in which you're writing, is picking up the classics. When I needed a quick primer on seafaring yarns, I found Treasure Island and Heart of Darkness far more useful than skimming these specialized dictionaries. A couple of books I've found useful... Regency Slang Revealed: Gross's Dictionary of Vulgar Tongue & Later Versions - Organized & Indexed The Pirate Primer; Mastering the Language of Swashbucklers and Rogues
Friendly reminder to contributors in this thread: Feel free to post your resources in our Resources section. We need more activity there.
