I’ve passed 47,000 words now on Wraith of Talera, the fourth Taleran book. This will mark the start
of a new duology. By now, as is probably common with Sword and Planet kinds of
series, I’ve built up a tremendous amount of information about the planet
Talera. I keep what I call a “Taleran Encyclopedia,” which has details on
characters, races, plants and animals, language, cities and countries, games,
religions etc. I need it to keep everything straight.
At some point in many fantasy series, the author includes an
appendix or two at the end of a volume providing at least some of this kind of
information to the readers. It’s in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Alan Burt
Akers did it for Kregen. There’s something like it for the Barsoom series by
ERB. I personally like it when such things are included and was thinking about
adding such an appendix to this fourth book. Here’s an example of a potential entry, as it exists
in my current “encyclopedia.”
Curse words and phrases: There are many more:
Dahh – Generally
translated as Damn.
Dihmus
vishka – Possible translation is “god in heaven.”
Krutt – Used as a curse because the habits of the insect are so disgusting to
many.
Lart – Rodent
(You Rat). Generally considered a mild
curse.
Ruck
(Ruckers) – Worthless ones.
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Est Yaal shei = go to hell.
Ivid Yaal shei = What the hell?
Sae Yaal shei = Oh hell, or, by hell.
What do you think? Would you enjoy such a thing? Does
it seem superfluous, or like an interesting element that increases the
believability factor for the stories.
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