What happens when you have a word you want to say but there’s no word for it…you make one up! So many authors dating back to Shakespeare have done just that, and oftentimes you use words that you don’t even know an author invented! If the time comes and no exact word does the trick for what you’re trying to say, invent one!
Just to give you some examples, here is a list of words that you may use from time to time that authors invented.
- “Tween”: J. R. R. Tolkein, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ (1954)
- “Nerd”: Dr. Seuss, ‘If I Ran the Zoo’ (1950)
- “Piehole”: Stephen King, ‘Christine’ (1983)
And those are just to name a few! Now of course authors can invent an abundance of names and places etc. However, these authors invented words that we use often in our vocabulary. Who knows we could be saying your word next! So if you find a whole in your story’s diction don’t be discouraged to mess around with creating your own word (just make sure it hasn’t already been used in another meaning).
Happy Writing!