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Conlanging 101: How to Create a Language, Part 6

Published by Tabby on November 29, 2021

I’m back, and I have a couple friends here to join us this time! The next step of conlanging we will cover is creating a writing system. Check out this page to see all the previous posts on creating a language. They have a lot of great info and resources!

Creating a Writing System: An Interview with Two Webcomic Artists

I have with me artists/writers Kiarou and moui. They are co-creators of the web comic Messenger to Gevurah, a beautifully illustrated story with its own fleshed-out worldbuilding, including an amazing writing system! Before we launch into writing systems, here is some amazing art from their comic. Please do check out their work–you won’t regret it! You can find multiple formats and places to read their comic here.

β€œπ‘€π‘’π‘’π‘‘ πΎπ‘™π‘Žπ‘’π‘‘π‘’, π‘Ž π‘¦π‘œπ‘’π‘›π‘” π‘ π‘π‘Ÿπ‘–π‘π‘’ π‘€π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘˜π‘–π‘›π‘” 𝑖𝑛 π‘œπ‘›π‘’ π‘œπ‘“ π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ 𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑦’𝑠 π‘π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘šπ‘–π‘›π‘’π‘›π‘‘ π‘šπ‘œπ‘›π‘Žπ‘ π‘‘π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘–π‘’π‘ . 𝐡𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘β„Žπ‘Žπ‘›π‘’π‘‘ π‘“π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘š π‘π‘–π‘Ÿπ‘‘β„Ž π‘Žπ‘›π‘‘ π‘™π‘’π‘Žπ‘Ÿπ‘›π‘–π‘›π‘” π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ 𝑝𝑒𝑛 π‘Žπ‘‘ π‘Ž π‘¦π‘œπ‘’π‘›π‘” π‘Žπ‘”π‘’, πΊπ‘’π‘£π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘Žβ„Ž 𝑖𝑠 π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘œπ‘›π‘™π‘¦ π‘€π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘™π‘‘ π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘π‘œπ‘¦ β„Žπ‘Žπ‘  π‘’π‘£π‘’π‘Ÿ π‘˜π‘›π‘œπ‘€π‘›. π»π‘œπ‘€π‘’π‘£π‘’π‘Ÿ, 𝑖𝑛 π‘Ž π‘π‘™π‘–π‘›π‘˜ π‘œπ‘“ π‘Žπ‘› 𝑒𝑦𝑒, β„Žπ‘–π‘  π‘€π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘™π‘‘ π‘π‘Ÿπ‘’π‘šπ‘π‘™π‘’π‘  π‘Žπ‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘’π‘›π‘‘ β„Žπ‘–π‘š.”

Now tell us a bit about the writing system! What inspired it (if anything) and what are its characteristics?

moui & Kiarou: We knew right off the back that language and writing would be important themes in our story. However we definitely didn’t want to keep everything in English, simply for immersion sake. Since the world of Messenger To Gevurah is a pure fantasy, it just seemed appropriate to immerse that world even more with its own language and writing system.

When first creating your world, what things did you consider when it came to the language/writing system? How did those considerations change as you got deeper into writing the story, if they did change?

Kiarou: The funny thing is, I’m actually not very gifted in languages. It’s always been an area I struggled with in school. We knew that there was a certain aesthetic that we wanted to go with, but the system itself had to be simple. So we made it a simple phonetic translation system, where the symbols simply stand for sounds that can be phonetically translated into English! It’s not that’s complex and easy for me to keep straight.

Practically speaking, how did you go about designing the writing system?

moui & Kiarou: The aesthetics of the visual style of the writing system was actually built backwards from the logo design. We had an idea for what the series logo should look like: The title MESSENGER TO GEVURAH, but then have a subtitle of the series in a different language. Almost like in Japanese animations where they will have the English title with the Kanji title underneath it. Well, we definitely didn’t want Kanji or any other real world language, so we made up our own. We worked with the logo to see what visually looked good as a logo.

Original doodle for the logo
Digital refinement
New concept
Finalized concept

Once we had our logo finalized, we made the rest of the alphabet to fit with the symbols used in the logo. Since the setting of MtG was a city that is strong, inflexible and imposing, we wanted a written language that reflected those qualities. We referenced various languages like Latin and Hebrew as a visual motif guide on how to get an alphabet to look cohesive.

Original lettering guide sketch

Did anything surprise you about creating a writing system? If so, what?

moui & Kiarou: An unintended benefit of having a made up written language was how much easier it made drawing some panels! In some scenes where there is a book with a large amount of text whose content is unimportant, it’s easier to just mash a bunch of symbols together rather than having to type something out. And it looks much better than just drawing squiggly lines as a shorthand.

What advice would you give to a new conlanger who wants to create a writing system to supplement their conlang?

moui & Kiarou: Think about the people and culture that use this written language and try to get that language to reflect the culture at large. Is the culture a complex web of hierarchies and systems? Then make the language complex and difficult, so that not every layman in that society could pick it up. Is this culture free thinking? Then a visual style that blends words together or is flexible in the scripts is a great direction to go. Even if the language doesn’t make 100% sense from a philology perspective, the visual information you can subconsciously give your audience is invaluable.

What has been the most fun or rewarding thing about developing your comic and its setting?

moui: It’s been so interesting seeing how the art style has changed over the years. Since it takes us a very long time to complete a chapter, there is a clear visual development from the first chapter of Volume 1 to the last. It’s kind of cool to see how seamless it happens, but then when you contrast the first page with the last, it’s like β€œwow, I’ve really improved!”. It’s exciting to wonder how the art will look after several volumes are completed!

Any final thoughts regarding designing a writing system, and worldbuilding/conlanging in general?

moui & Kiarou: Be as simple or as complex as you like, I think the important thing with these type of things is how it functions as a component in the story and in your world building! It’s very easy for us fantasy writers to get caught up in the world building process, but it’s always good to step back every once in a while and ask β€œwhat function does this serve and am I getting the most out of it?” If you keep the practical function of these story components in mind, then you will find all sorts of creative and efficient ways to incorporating language into your story!

As you can see, lots of great and practical information to get inspiration from! A big thanks to Kiarou and moui for coming over to my little corner of the internet to talking about creating a writing system. Again, check out Messenger to Gevurah… If you like manga, webcomics, art, or just a plain ol’ good story, check this hidden gem out here!

Next Time

In my next installment of this series, I will go into some more detail on writing systems and resources to draw upon as you create your own. Stay tuned for that, and check out my books on Amazon while you’re at it! They include the conlang Korvet and are epic stories to boot.