But not enough for my purposes. So I started making up more words and phrases. By now I have quite a few. And sometimes, people ask me what these lines mean. So here they are! (If I missed one, you can post it in the comments and I’ll add it). If you want to add some Draconic to your game, or if you’re just really curious what all those nonsense words are, here you go!

I’m not a linguist–although I own several linguistics textbooks that I love–but I try to keep the notion that these words have roots and connections in mind. I scour that glossary, and then I scour various dictionaries. And then I make shit up. If it looks like another word, I probably did that on purpose.

Unless I didn’t, in which case, oops!

Words from The God Catcher
These words are all “Classical” Draconic. They are spoken by true dragons.

• dokaal:  A catchall term for humanoids. “Two-leggers.”
• taaldarax: This is a dragon who plays xorvintaal–the “Great Game” depicted in The God Catcher. Taken from a combination of xorvintaal and darastrix, the word for “dragon.”
• lovac: A taaldarax’s empowered minion. The lovac has a level of power and understanding in the game the other minions don’t. In Monster Manual V where xorvintaal is first described this is called an “exarch.” But then they started calling demigodish things “exarchs” and that would have been super confusing. Confession: I straight swiped this one. It’s the word for the bishop piece in chess in Serbo-Croatian (it means “hunter”).
• henich: Practically, this means “bastard.” But since I don’t get the impression dragons have a lot of issues with out-of-wedlock births, it doesn’t mean bastard. I think it means something like “unhatched, rotten egg.” Like “You’re the one they should have kicked out of the clutch.” Add an m’ and make a mild expletive (m’henich). Kick it up a teensy notch and say “Tiamat m’henich.”
• strixiki: A kind of nasty way to say dragonborn. The “strix” is from darastrix. The only words that this syllable appears in are darastrix and vorastrix (“sorcerer”). Since sorcerers are sometimes held to be descended from dragon-human matings. I figure this is an acknowledgement of that. But the diminuative sounding ending? I think it means “little imposters.”
• achuakosj: “Baby green.” Not a nice thing to call Andareunarthex!

Words from the Brimstone Angels series
These words are all “Tymantheran” dialect. Tymanther is a country that was left in Abeir when Abeir-Toril firs separated, and thousands of years later, dropped back into Faerun. While Draconic is handled in D&D as a language which doesn’t change or develop much at all, I cannot deal with the idea that the dragons of Abeir–a place totally alien compared to Faerun–had absolutely no effect on their language. Moreover, the dragonborn who actually live in Tymanther are not dragons and therefore would have their own effects. A biped living in a slave caste that can populate its own country has a different worldview than a flying quadroped who’s basically solo. Fact. (Look it up.)

Generally, I make Tymantheran words softer, a little more nasal, and when appropriate, elongate syllables–very subtly. But mostly I make up cursing.

• karshoj: Practically, this is an “f-bomb.” Serious cursing. But literally, it wouldn’t be “fuck.” Dragons don’t seem to have taboos about sex. Dragonborn don’t really either, aside from being serious about making sure you get married and have eggs. I’ve never really sussed out an appropriate translation, to be honest. The closest I can get is something about crapping on someone’s hoard. Add a suffix to get the adjectival form, karshoji. 
• tiamash: Practically, this is “asshole.” Although I think it translates more to be “like Tiamat” the evil dragon goddess. So it’s more of a “backstabber” kind of thing. Not necessarily only applied to females, even though I think has been so far…
• henish: Tymantheran form of henich above. I told you it was mostly subtle. I suspect this means the same sort of thing too–but it’s pretty mild. Also makes an expletive as m’henish. 
• pothac: Stupid. Variant of pothoc. I was going to say it was pothach, but it looked like potlatch. Oh well.
• aithyas: Practically this is “shit.” But it’s not really used as an expletive.
• thrik: Means “no,” but is used to mean “zip it!” as a shortened from of “thrik ukris” [no][talk]. I spelled this differently from the article. Because Tymanther hates the letter C. (“Liar” in Draconic is erin.)
• akison: “Yes.” Where “Classical” is axun, here I added a syllable. Like if you said “ye-ess” enough, in a few dozen generations it would totally be a two syllable word. And your English teacher would say “Say ‘ye-ess,’ don’t say ‘ye-eah’!”
• kosjmyrni: “Mother’s child.” Dragonborn end up tied to one parent’s clan. A kosjmyrni is someone who’s raised by their mother’s clan. Mehen says this to Tam when he admits he didn’t exactly raise his own daughter, a reminder that he can’t really claim her in Mehen’s mind.
• Verthisathurgiesh: This is the name of Mehen’s former clan. It translates to “mountain” (verthisa, from the classical verthicha) + “crippled” (thurgiesh, from the classical thurgix)
• Arush Vayem: The name of Farideh and Havilar’s home village. Arush means “valley” (from the classical arux) and Vayem is somehow “ash” (from the classical vignar…I think it must mean a specific type. Probably volcanic.)

Phrases
Here are some lines that might have made you say “huh?” Sometimes a character’s gotta speak the mother tongue…and sometimes that happens when the point-of-view character’s not fluent.

• “Mehen wux bensvenk?”: This one’s Tymantheran. [Mehen][you][good]? Bensvenk is a nasal half-step from the classical bensvelk. Or I made a typo. 50-50.
  
• “Karshoj ardahlominak”: So, you’re thinking karshoj alone just isn’t enough to convey your fury. I mean, you’re really pissed off. This is what you need. The structure is a little confusing, but essentially it’s ["Nasty idiomatic curse"] [prefix="not me"]+(Name of person)+["name"]. Functionally, what you have is the classic, ear-blistering “Fuck your mother.” Or rather “Karshoj your entire line of ancestors.” Draconic does this funny thing were there’s no possessive pronouns. To indicate something is “yours” you add the prefix that indicates you’re talking about something that’s not “mine” and not “my friend or relative’s” and then you integrate the person’s name. Weird, yes. Hey, I don’t make the rules! (Except when I do.)
• “Tuor aripotvych, darastrix wux thric? Vivex axun?” : I won’t tell you who says this and spoil things, but it’s “classical” all the way. [Want] [prefix="not me"]+["forgiveness"] ["dragons"] ["you"] ["no"]? ["Victory"]["yes"]? Or, more clearly, “Beg your pardon, but you’re not dragons? Have I got that right?” The only word in there I added was aripotvych, which probably doesn’t mean “forgiveness” exactly. Maybe more of a “ignore me when you rampage.”

*Typetypetypetype*
*RUSH OF PANIC*
“Oh God. I haven’t posted anything since December. OH GOD.”
*Put it off–have to finish scene…*
*Repeat.

The trouble is, the longer I go without posting, the more I end up telling myself I need to come up with something super-epic to make up for it. So I decide I’ll do it later, when I’m not up to my neck in The Adversary (NB: I am always up to my neck in a book. I don’t know why I ever think that’s not going to be true) and I have spare brain cells to devote to coming up with interesting and entertaining posts.

You know what, readers? I love you, but screw that. I don’t like blogging. I don’t like wading into the fray on hot topics. I don’t like “building my brand.” I don’t like worrying about coming up with something AMAZING that maybe no one will love.

But I also really don’t like quitting and I definitely don’t like leaving my blog sitting here. So I may not have crossed the threshold for awesomeness, but I have definitely crossed the threshold for “get your act together lady.” (That’s possibly the worst sentence I’ve ever constructed. Forget it–we’re rolling with it.)

After all, I do not let this feeling stop me when I’m writing–and hoo-boy! do I ever get it. What if I get this bit of Realmslore wrong? What if everyone thinks I’m saying this not that? What if everyone reads this book and hates it? What if nobody reads it at all?!

Ahem.

I have learned–as basically every writer who has these thoughts has learned–to ignore them. To indulge them, if at all, only briefly and in the company of a peer who knows what I’m talking about and knows to say, “There, there. You said that about the last book, too. Shut up and write now.” To put these thoughts, quietly, to use, and get shit done.

(Also, apparently, to confess it on my blog in order to make me feel obligated to keep posting. Sneaky me!)

This is, I suspect, the only way to deal with this anxiety–roll with it. ‘Cause it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, and neither am I.

Writer’s Don’t Cry on Omnivoracious: Writing Killer Dialogue. If you’re only going to read one of these and you want to write, read this one. As much as my upbringing fights it, I’m going to admit I’m pretty fucking good at dialogue, and until Susan asked me all the right questions, my answer to “How do you write good dialogue?” was “You just do. I don’t know!”

Fantasy Author’s Handbook: An interview with Phil Athans which includes the tale of where Farideh got her start.

Book Wyrms on Wizards.com: Judging a Book by Its Cover. A blog with Jon Schindehette (the D&D art director) and Nina Hess (FR editor extraordnaire) about creating the covers for Brimstone Angels andLesser Evils.Includes rough sketches of the covers-that-might-have-been.

Suvudu: Take Five. Five cool things about Lesser Evils.

SFSignal: Interview with Bryan Thomas Schmidt. Includes questions about all my books, so if you read that last post and you’re all, “WTF isThe God Catcher?” here you go.

JenniferBrozek.com: Tell Me, where I talk about why I love villains.

Keith-Baker.com: Six Questions with Keith Baker, where I tell you who I want to punch (hint: not Keith).

Grasping for the Wind: Using D&D as Inspiration. I am bad at titles, but I am good at not letting the game get in the way of a good story, and not letting a good story trample the game!

Lastly, Names: A New Perspective: Other People’s Names, where I talk about working with the constraints of a shared world when it comes to naming.

…maybe that’s just me.

But let’s pretend it isn’t for a minute. Let’s pretend it’s you too. Maybe not the Christmas part. Maybe this is a birthday/anniversary/Hanukkah/Diwali/etc. problem.

Obviously I think you should buy my books. Duh. I mean, I don’t even think I have to say that. But still, here are some links to Amazon’s nice reviews of Brimstone Angels and Lesser Evils, so you can see I’m not just biased. Paperbacks make fab stocking stuffers, great Secret Santa gifts, and wonderful “Oh shit! I spent $10 on this sibling and $20 on that sibling and if they’re not equal Christmas is going to be CRAZY!” If you can’t get to a bookstore, Amazon does have a nice, quick delivery.

But I have another book, The God Catcher, and people in need of gifts, this is the one you should get.

See, when I wrote The God Catcher, I was trying very hard to please a lot of people. I wanted my editor to like it, of course, and I wanted Ed Greenwood to like it—nothing worse than having the guy who created Waterdeep looking at the book you wrote for his series and going, “Meh.” I wanted to write something that serious Realms fans would like, that made clear I wasn’t bumbling into their favorite world and not taking it seriously. I wanted to write something I was proud of.

But I also wanted to write a book that someone completely new to Forgotten Realms could pick up and fall into. One of the goals of the Fourth Edition Realms was to open the world up for new readers, who maybe felt like they couldn’t penetrate the dense lore of the world. If you’re going to do that, then do that, right? Make the book that anyone can follow, but that’s still Realmsy.

And what I accidentally made—for you, dear readers—is an entry point to convince your reluctant wife, girlfriend*, friends, or family that the Realms is pretty cool.

Seriously: The best feeling after writing The God Catcher was people telling me that their wives and girlfriends had read it, loved it, and gotten why their partner thought the Realms was cool. The best reviews (just a skosh for me above diehard fans saying it was a good read) were from people who said “I don’t usually read this kind of thing, but…”

Why does it work? Dunno. I have guesses.

For the wife/girlfriend/partner: When you are a woman, you can get hit with a lot of fantasy that’s not about you. That’s not a problem in and of itself—reading about other people is part of what makes fiction so great—but eventually…it feels lonely. Your story isn’t in there. And when it is about a woman, it can be hard for writers to shake off the idea that female characters are passive, reactive, and there to support the other characters.

(Try this some time: When you’re reading a book with a core female character and she’s talking to the core male character, what percentage of her lines are questions like “But how can that be?” “Are you sure?” “What are we going to do?” She is propping up the story, not being her own character. This is not fun to read if she’s the one you’re imagining being.)

And I mean it when I say it can be hard for writers: I think about this stuff all the time and my original outline of The Adversary still somehow turned into Farideh twiddling her thumbs while various people tried to figure out how to rescue her. (Which…seriously, if you put that girl in a room with a ball of Christmas lights, you’re going to come back and find them all untangled and laid out. She doesn’t sit.) That undercurrent is there, and it’s really easy to get dragged into.

Or if they are active, a lot of the time, their stories are romances. And again, that’s not a problem in and of itself—I love a good romance. But sometimes you don’t want to get the screaming badass guy. Sometimes you want to be a screaming badass. The God Catcher has no real romance to speak of (I guess there’s some flirting and some potential undercurrents, but it’s not the story). It’s about two women who become friends while trying to figure out who they really are. It’s also about a maybe-dragon and a wizard-cum-thief trying to thwart an evil dragon and a sociopathic assassin with kickass boots, playing a world-spanning game of thrones and threatening to destroy Waterdeep. Either way.

For everyone: you don’t need to know the history of Waterdeep to “get” it. You can, and there are definitely fun little references and mentions in there. But if you are my seventy-five-year-old granma from Utah, you will still “get” it. The story is as much about “dragons and shit” as it is about friendship and personal growth and emotions. Those are a lot easier for some people to grok than goblins.

I’m not saying it’s the only book that will convince your friend or sisters or mother or girlfriend or wife that the Realms are cool. I’m certainly not saying it’s the only book that will convince them fantasy is not a bunch of goofy dwarves and elves walking for hours and killing silly monsters with no purpose. There are loads of those. And I’m not saying I’ve cracked some vast conspiracy wide open by writing about *gasp* women in a fantasy setting. I could do a whole blog post on that.

But I am saying you could totally buy the ebook for their ereader (or maybe the ereader, pre-loaded, if you’ve got the bucks this year)** and have a gift crossed off your list. And maybe convince them the Realms are worth checking out.

Although I’m not sure it’s appropriate for Diwali…

*If you are like me, and you are partnered with a guy who doesn’t get your fantasy or Forgotten Realms love, I have less data for you, but plenty of sympathy. The Husband liked it—and he was one of the people I was trying to write for—and my dad liked it and my sister’s friend Charlie “L.O.V.E.D.” it, but I don’t know of other people’s stories like I do for the ladies. Most men who tell me they liked it already read Realms books.

My personal path for convincing the Husband to like Forgotten Realms was actually this: “He likes Neal Stephenson”–>Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman and other books that are “not really fantasy”–>few titles I love that we can talk about–>Frostfell by Mark Sehestedt. I don’t know what it is about Frostfell, but it convinced him there were cool books in the Realms. Worth a shot!

**No ereader? The God Catcher is also available in the Waterdeep II omnibus, and sometimes you can find it at used book stores. Which in this case I will encourage.

Yesterday, Suvudu posted Take Five, five surprising things aboutBrimstone Angels: Lesser Evils.

Today, you can read another interview I did with Bryan Thomas Schmidt on SF Signal. This one’s about all of my books, and a bit more. Check it out!

(Warning: this is quick, not as in depth as some of the other interviews I’m doing this week. So check those out).

1) What is the working title  of your next book?
The next available book is Lesser Evils. The book I’m working on is called The Adversary
(which will come out this time next year).

2) Where did the idea come  from for the book?
Lesser Evils came out of two ideas crashing together: Harpers and Zhentarim, and a lost library. It’s also a sequel to my 2011 book, Brimstone Angels. The Adversary was partly inspired by a letter my husband’s grandfather wrote about his experiences during WWII, and partly by the game’s changing editions.

3) What genre does your book  fall under?
Fantasy. Fantasy Adventure? Tie-in Fantasy? Fantasy Soap Opera? I’m bad at genres

4) What actors would you  choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
I don’t do that. Who would you pick?

5) What is the one-sentence  synopsis of your book?
A tiefling warlock hunts for the spell to free a devil from the Nine Hells while eluding powerful evils and making unlikely allies in a forgotten library.

6) Will your book be  self-published or represented by an agency?
Neither. It’s published by Wizards of the Coast.

7) How long did it take you  to write the first draft of the manuscript?
About four months. Considering I was pregnant or caring for a newborn during that time, I still think it’s uncommonly fast.

8) What other books would you  compare this story to within your genre?
Ooh, this is another thing I’m bad at. Here are things other people have compared it to, making me super flattered: Elaine Cunningham’s Starlight and Shadows series; N. K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy (!!); and the TV show Supernatural.

9) Who or what inspired you  to write this book?
Love of the characters. I had several chances to change direction, to back out, to take this off my plate. But I believe in these characters and their story. So you’re stuck with them.

10) What else about the book might  pique the reader’s interest?
This is a tie-in novel, yes, but I want to point out that I’ve always made a point of making sure that my books appeal to longtime fans while being fun to read for my grandmother. And while she doesn’t like the devils (they are a little unpleasant), she’s enjoying this series.

Next week!
Robin MacPherson
Jason Brick
Jennifer Brink

In the meantime, go check out today’s blog tour posts at Fantasy Author’s Handbook and Wizards.com! And maybe go buy a copy of my book?

Let me say too, this is probably one of the strangest parts of being a professional writer for me: People ask me to be an authority on things. Which I suppose I am as much as anybody.*  I’m pretty happy with my dialogue in general, and so are other people. I can probably talk about that without feeling silly.

But for dialogue in particular, I’ve never had an easy time giving tips. You just write it and then it’s either good, or it’s clunky, and you fix it. Ta-da!

Fortunately, Susan is very good at asking questions that make you turn the topic just a little and see that—oh!—you do have something to say. Which is good, because you already agreed to do this interview and Susan’s been super nice about the whole thing.

*Maybe not as much as Elmore Leonard, the Guy Everyone Cites for Good Dialogue**

**…I probably should have cited Elmore Leonard. He’s very good.

So congratulations….Epheros! You’ve won the grand prize! Here’s the winning entry:

“While not technically declared an organization, Sherlock’s nemesis Moriarty holds his own, I think, in maintaining vast amounts of power with the wide network of contacts, subordinates, and thugs.

Also, I have Brimstone Angels but have yet to read it… alas for the ever piling stack of books I must read. If I win then my priorities are shuffled to accommodate – as deserving as you holding this contest for us fans.

Thanks for running this!!”

You’re very welcome! Does this mean Moriarty and his network win for best evil organization?

Other winners’ entries are listed below. Congratulations to everyone!

Joseph Laubach

“Cobra!”

Anthony C. Edwards

“If I have to choose an Evil Organization, it simply has to be The Red Brotherhood of Hyboria fame. I have a soft spot for organizations that last on and on despite any effort to eliminate them! Pirates are just good fun as villains…because they freely take anyone it would seem, it becomes very easy to place “good guys” inside such an organization in either writing of stories or for an RPG game.”

Johnny Johnson

“OMG signed copies!

“Shoes!…wait no. FDA!…thats not fictional.

“Umm umm…DAMNIT! im too hard of a realms nerd!

“All I can think of is the Red Wizards or the Zhentarim…but you know those!

“Other people said cobra…cobra is cool. The Sith!…nah too easy. OH how about the Daleks (Is a race also considered an organization?) How about THE LEGION OF DOOM! or Hydra! …Team Rocket? Im lame!…I want books. I love you? T.T”

Benjami

“Westlake’s Dortmunder gang. They’re the protagonists, but still a crime syndicate of sorts.”

steve O gagne

“I’ve been reading the forgotten realms books since I was a kid and love everything about them! My favorite evil gang from a fantasy standpoint is tied betwixt the Lannister’s from the Game of Thrones series and the Hoards of Crenshinibon, the evil shard from the Icewind Dale trilogy… but by far, the most wretched hive of scum and villiany in the universe would be the Emperor and the Sith from Star Wars…..as an aside, this prize package, should it make it’s way to me, will be anawesome present for my good pal James Worley, who has done the awesome service of turning my eyes and brain to some of the best fiction I have every read!”

(I know what someone’s getting for Christmas!)

Daniel Miller

“I would have to go with the D’Hara Empire from Wizards First Rule by Terry Goodkind. I primarily base this off just the Mord-Sith alone, but also Darken Rahl was quit ruthless and evil in his own right.”

Brendan H

“The knights of Takhisis, Dragonlance. I choose these knights because of their reflection into the reality of national service today. This is not an organization bent solely on widespread death and destruction, but conversion and subversion. By seeking to turn every man to the will of their god, and bend his will to align with their own.

“These knights use competition, religion, and leverage to determine power within their ranks. As most people in reality know, these are driving forces to power in society today. And these knights wear the dark virtues of men as their honor.

“And me? Est solarus oth mithas.”

Check out all the awesome comments here.

NB: All winners have been notified by email at this point. If you see your name, and haven’t gotten an email 1) check your spam filter and 2) if it’s not there, post a comment to send me a message. If you don’t get back to me before December 7th, I’m going to have to draw a new name.

To celebrate, I’m going to be doing my first ever blog tour (which, if you’re curious, is where I fell down on my “keep blogging” plan–I have to write all these blogs and do all these interviews to get ready). Below is the schedule. In the meantime, I highly suggest you check some of these out!

Monday, December 3: Writer’s Don’t Cry with Susan Morris. Have you read Susan’s column? You should. Susan is not only full of excellent advice and excellent book picks, but she also draws a mean Emoticow. I’ll be talking to her about writing dialogue, since she named the Brimstone Angels series as one of her top five books for writers in 2012 based partly on the dialogue. (Did I mention Susan has excellent taste?)

Tuesday, December 4:  Fantasy Author Handbook with Philip Athans. You should read this one too–Phil is also full of excellent advice (try to squeeze into one of his writing panels at a con…seriously. You should. If you have to trip someone, just make sure no one sees you in the crush). His blog is also one of those you start reading on a coffee break…and then realize the sun is coming up.

Wednesday, December 5:  SF Signal—interview with Bryan Thomas Schmidt. SF Signal won a 2012 Hugo for BEst Fanzine. It’s packed with news, fiction, interviews and more (And if you make it through all that, you can check out Bryan’s novels too )

Thursday, December 6:  Suvudu Take Five. If you haven’t eagerly read through Suvudu’s yearly Cage Match, pitting fantasy characters against each other in a delightful crossover bracket, you’re missing out. You’re also missing their Take Five feature–which having reviewed extensively prior to this blog tour, I can tell you is full of gems.

Friday,  December 7:  D&D site! I’m excited about this one, especially since I have special co-bloggers. You will get a peek behind the curtain at part of the process we authors don’t usually talk about.

Monday, December 10: A guest blog with Jennifer Brozek. If you have been to a SF/F convention, picked up at RPG book, or poked your nose into the wild space we call the internet, you have likely crossed paths with this lady or her work. I first crossed paths with her at a writer’s retreat where we did a panel with two different topics we managed to cheerfully merge! Jennifer does this nifty feature on her site called “Tell Me” where she has authors talking about their latest work.

Tuesday, December 11: A guest blog on Grasping for the Wind. Okay. I’ll admit. This is the last thing I still have to do. A blog about using D&D as inspiration. Probably. I hate committing to things I’m not finished with. But while I finish, this is a cool site for reviews and other such stuff!