For me, the writing style in a story is extremely important. It’s much more important how it is and how it’s structured, than it is necessarily grammatically correct. A Tolkien-style fantasy book probably doesn’t lend itself well to academic language. A sci-fi book in space would probably be strange with luscious Shakespearean lyricism. Whereas a medieval story lends itself perfectly and is likely to be better in ”old language” (experienced, it doesn’t necessarily have to be authentic).
Some have gone so far as to create new languages to further enhance the story’s character and peculiarities. One such example is Klingon from Star Trek. But that’s not the only one.
It has taken me quite a long time from when I first encountered a made-up language to understanding the genius (and complexity) in it – but also to using those insights to look at the languages we have around us today and how it reflects both us humans but also region, culture and history. And the physical environment around us.
I write in different languages (my mother tongue Swedish and secondary language English) and even though it was born out of thoughts about the potential reach of the specific story and where it could be thought to find the most potential readers, I have also come to the realization that both languages (or perhaps my ability to express myself in the respective languages, where English is reasonably more limited than Swedish) are suitable for different types of stories.
It is also a difference for me if, as now, I am writing a text for the purpose of being informative and perhaps arousing thoughts or inspiration, or if I am writing a book.
The language becomes a tool to convey something more than just the words. Some examples of where the use of language in different ways has enhanced the mood and the story (without judging ”linguistic correctness”) for me are:
- Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary – where he depicts an encounter between two individuals with, to say the least, great linguistic challenges in a completely brilliant way and something that adds a lot to the story!
- Niklas Natt och Dag, 1783 – where the old-fashioned language, both in speech and environmental descriptions, helps to bring the mind and imagination back to a time where I completely lack references. The credibility (without me being able to say anything about the correctness) in his language increases the reading experience.
- David Bergman, Rex Maris – where the use of the strict military and police language and terminology contributes to the credibility in what is described and where certain events, which (in my assessment) perhaps with a different linguistic packaging would have been more difficult to accept, now become completely natural and important in the course of events.
- J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter – where the everyday and mundane language both creates a contrast to the magical and anchors it as something completely ordinary and everyday.
- Susanne Collins, The Hunger Games – also here, an everyday language in a dystopian world that both mitigates and naturalizes the horrors that exist in that world where the characters reasonably find themselves in the world while their chafing in everyday life makes them act.
The list can of course be made long. My point in short, the choice of language, for me, is not about being linguistically correct, but about being a tool that conveys, enhances and anchors the story in the reader.
All the best!
//N
^..^