so I want to write a story (more or less) and to do that I need to create the world in which it takes place
I'm thinking fantasy but to be honest straight up "high" fantasy as a setting bores the hell out of me (mainly in that I find it hard to be inspired by swords and sorcery or various mythologies/historical periods....thats just me anyhow) so it could be like a post apocalyptic setting where things have moved on to the point its a whole different world...or "fantasy sci fi" with emphasis on fantasy (like star wars or even borderlands) but anyway...
there are a few areas where I'd like to get input, even if your not a writer or whatever I'd like to know what you like/dislike in a fantasy world and the things I [b/]shouldn't[/b] do
[b/]Naming things[/b]
I absolutly suck at naming things.Given its a fantasy setting though I probably should come up with (more or less) unique names for locaions and charachters, are "fantasy name generators" a too tacky? or useful? I mean as long as I don't over do it so every charachter has some bizare name with 3 hyphens or somthing
[b/]language[/b]
as in how people should talk. I would never in a million years attempt anything "ye olde" it seems alot of fantasy setting speak in a kind of neutral "sounds kind of old but still easy to understand" way, whats your opinion on using more contemporay language? particually curse words
aside from that what are some other things that I definetly shouldn't do? in regards to say fantasy races and level of cliche's used....or anything else really
I think the best setting for a fantasy story would be in an alien environment, such as a different planet or even dimension. That way you can be incredibly creative with your races, locations and such. And avoid the common clichés that we're all sick of.
If you want to stick with a more Human based story though why not explore some of the less seen settings in fantasy. Instead of the overused European fantasy, consider using a different culture. For example having it based around Incan and Aztec culture or ancient Egypt.
As for a post-apocalyptic setting. A good setting would be after a cataclysmic meteor strike or a global ice age
As for language. If its based on earth just use normal language that everyone can easily relate too. No need for the ye olde crap. If you are creating your own universe though it would be best to try and invent a few unique curse words or something like that.
I think the best setting for a fantasy story would be in an alien environment, such as a different planet or even dimension. That way you can be incredibly creative with your races, locations and such. And avoid the common clichés that we're all sick of.
most fantasy settings practicly are "different dimensions" it seems since they make no attempt to align with our "real" world...but yeah, I'm still not sure what techological level I want, post apocalyptic would let me play around with that, and I'm not even sure I want to touch magic
[quote/]If you want to stick with a more Human based story though why not explore some of the less seen settings in fantasy. Instead of the overused European fantasy, consider using a different culture. For example having it based around Incan and Aztec culture or ancient Egypt.[/quote]
my main charachters are part of a powerful religion/church which kind of resembles christianity (which now that I think about it doesn't really have too) cliche I know,
Make sure there are lesbians, because lesbians makes everything better. Oh, and also put in Robots, and Explosions, and the occasional Exploding Robot. Also you are gonna need lots and lots of Spaghetti, because people like that. AND! If you can, make some of the Characters have a tie. Everyone likes ties.
Make sure there is lots of Science as well, bitches love Science. Also make sure there is lots of Koala Bears... FLYING Koala Bears that can talk and travel through time. It's a well known fact that they can do that. You will also need Sassy Independant Black Women who don't need no man, but don't make them the lesbians, and they should be obese, it's easier for people to relate properly to that.
Once when I was in 5th grade we had a School Trip to the Museum. I asked the tour guide about one of the exhibits, so he told me that if I wanted to know more I had to follow him, and he took me to a closet started to dance for a while. It was kinda weird, and I didn't really learn anything, but still you shouldn't use any Aliens in your thing because they are over done.
Now that that's out of the way.
Naming things can be tough, it really depends on what kind of cultural setting you are using. I think you said Christianity so try a Roman/Latin (Are those the same?) base if your sticking with that.
If you're doing Post Apocalyptic (I think I spelled that wrong) you can try a future setting too, so you could even make up your own wacky future religion instead of basing it off of Christianity (It's boring and there are no Cats in it).
As much as I agree with keeping Magic out of it it can be a useful (if lazy) plot device, so instead of saying "Azormel and Telsha tried to cross through the door, but a magical force prevented them" You're going to need to actually think of something, which may be difficult, and less believable (If you can... believe cwutididthere that) than say, "They couldn't pass because the way was blocked by a fallen thing." If it's a magic force most people are gonna be like "Shit nigga there magic here!" but if it's a fallen thing it'll be more "Well that's awfully convienent, the way we need to go just HAPPENS to have been blocked off by this PERFECTLY placed pillar..." If that makes anysense.
Yeah I realize this was probably not very helpful...
Well, I'm in the same position as you, sort of. And these are my rules regarding what you've mentioned:
-Naming things: You gotta keep it simple. If you come up with a complicated yet cool-sounding name for some things, you're shooting yourself on the foot there for the rest of the story. It would just be awkward if your character comes from Grubthilea and has a pet Huygiula and rides a Juyertue and his name is...John. Not only would it be complicated to remember those names but you would have to keep naming things in that fashion. If you wanna go that route, make sure they are easy names to remember and can be said easily. I believe Star Wars did that more or less well (Tatooine, Anakin, Leia, Kamino; they're easy to pronounce and remember).
-Language: Again, simple. It's your world so you ultimately know what you wanna do with it. An example of someone who did it right was Firely. They all speak English but they say things like Gorram instead of Goddamn and such. And they all understand each other They also speak some Chinese for some unknown reason but I think the creator of the show did a wonderful job with it. They never explain it but it kinda gives you the idea that 1. it takes place in the real world, 2. China did something pretty big and that's why everyone knows Chinese now and 3. It's pretty original; most shows don't do this.
Someone who did it wrong, if you ask me? Final Fantasy X and the Al-Bhed language. I wanted to understand the freakin' language but it was just hard! I felt like I missed a huge chunk of conversation because I didn't collect enough translation books before some cutscenes. Hey, it was the first time I played the game; don't expect me to know your language just like that! I'm not from Spira!
Someone who did that right? Jak and Daxter. They have their own alphabet but they never force you to read it or understand it. As a matter of fact, it's pointless to the player but it's still there so its a nice detail.
(And kudos for creating an elf-like race that wasn't named Elves. Or named at all. No need to name it anyway; they're all the same).
Bottom line: Use a language that everyone understands. Add specific terminology to things (but remember the rule above about naming things) to make your world different but that's it.
As far as the setting, again, do whatever you want as long as it's also simple to follow. Look at Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It talked about a country that was more or less based on our world's cultures. It only showed you what you needed to know and no less (Mystery is good; don't teach stuff to the reader/viewer that they don't need to know), the characters had their own fashion, the technology wasn't specific to a certain ear...overall, it was just very original.
FMA:B is also a good show to learn from if you want to do something related to religion. I love the way this show handles that. it creates its own mysterious entity and beliefs around it and counters it with the show's version of science. If you think about it, it's pretty controversial but because the creator didn't exactly reference an actual relgion, it just turns into a cool metaphor. In other words, he played it smart.
Again, Star Wars combines technology and rural-looking settings, same with Final Fantasy.
Don't be limited to someone else's ideas and settings. Create your own but make sure they work. Sit down and think "if I was there, would this make sense?".
Naming things can be tough, it really depends on what kind of cultural setting you are using. I think you said Christianity so try a Roman/Latin (Are those the same?) base if your sticking with that.
If you're doing Post Apocalyptic (I think I spelled that wrong) you can try a future setting too, so you could even make up your own wacky future religion instead of basing it off of Christianity (It's boring and there are no Cats in it).
[quote/]As much as I agree with keeping Magic out of it it can be a useful (if lazy) plot device, so instead of saying "Azormel and Telsha tried to cross through the door, but a magical force prevented them" You're going to need to actually think of something, which may be difficult,and less believable (If you can... believe cwutididthere that) than say, "They couldn't pass because the way was blocked by a fallen thing." If it's a magic force most people are gonna be like "Shit nigga there magic here!" but if it's a fallen thing it'll be more "Well that's awfully convienent, the way we need to go just HAPPENS to have been blocked off by this PERFECTLY placed pillar..." If that makes anysense.
.[/quote]
the door could be locked? XD
my problem with magic is I have trouble figuring out its limits and properties, its a whole lot less interesting that sci fi, that said though it can work somtimes
Naming things can be tough, it really depends on what kind of cultural setting you are using. I think you said Christianity so try a Roman/Latin (Are those the same?) base if your sticking with that.
If you're doing Post Apocalyptic (I think I spelled that wrong) you can try a future setting too, so you could even make up your own wacky future religion instead of basing it off of Christianity (It's boring and there are no Cats in it).
[quote/]As much as I agree with keeping Magic out of it it can be a useful (if lazy) plot device, so instead of saying "Azormel and Telsha tried to cross through the door, but a magical force prevented them" You're going to need to actually think of something, which may be difficult,and less believable (If you can... believe cwutididthere that) than say, "They couldn't pass because the way was blocked by a fallen thing." If it's a magic force most people are gonna be like "Shit nigga there magic here!" but if it's a fallen thing it'll be more "Well that's awfully convienent, the way we need to go just HAPPENS to have been blocked off by this PERFECTLY placed pillar..." If that makes anysense.
.
my problem with magic is I have trouble figuring out its limits and properties, its a whole lot less interesting that sci fi, that said though it can work somtimes[/quote]
Sci-fi is an even harder choice because then you need some sort of scientific reasoning to show WHY it does what it does, atleast with magic you can just say "It's magic, deal with it." Although I don't know your scientific background it may still be difficult. With magic you make your own rules, especially if it's your story. It's raining acid coated dildos? NAH MAHN I GOT MAGIC! A River in your way? NIGGA PLEASE CHECK DIS MAGIC SHIT OUT! It's just easier to explain.
However it's your story so do what you want, but if people are all like "Uhh Science doesn't work like that" don't be surprised.
Also, if the Door is locked why can't they break it down?
Sci-fi is an even harder choice because then you need some sort of scientific reasoning to show WHY it does what it does, atleast with magic you can just say "It's magic, deal with it." Although I don't know your scientific background it may still be difficult. With magic you make your own rules, especially if it's your story. It's raining acid coated dildos? NAH MAHN I GOT MAGIC! A River in your way? NIGGA PLEASE CHECK DIS MAGIC SHIT OUT! It's just easier to explain.
However it's your story so do what you want, but if people are all like "Uhh Science doesn't work like that" don't be surprised.
it depends on the situation..you dont need magic to cross a river when you can build a raft and if charachters start using magic to solve every problem then you may end up with the "they could have just used x" problem ...but yeah thats a different issue as I'm not exactly knowagle in science area
[quote/]Also, if the Door is locked why can't they break it down?[/quote]
it could be a heavy re-enforced door
I'm something of a praiser by exception when it comes to fantasy, so I think it'd be easier to list parts of the genre I don't like;
first, the cliche of the destroyed village and murdered/missing parents.
Seriously, does anyone here know a fantasy story where the protagonist's parents are not only alive at least through the majority of the story, but also are NOT missing or hiding anywhere?
Second, making magic a power rare individuals are born with.
A somewhat mild example, as I prefer fantasy settings where magic is a skill people can learn.
third, character being a peasant (or some other lower class job) that's actually a long lost heir to a kingdom's throne without already knowing it.
I think whoever thought up this cliche pulling it out of his butt. I find it strains credibility and makes the plot become somewhat jarring. I think if you're gonna turn a peasant hero into a king, you should have the hero earn the throne somehow, like gaining the approval of the realm's people or something.
Aaand, that's it, anything else I find find quite alright.
[b/]Naming things[/b]
I absolutly suck at naming things.Given its a fantasy setting though I probably should come up with (more or less) unique names for locaions and charachters, are "fantasy name generators" a too tacky? or useful? I mean as long as I don't over do it so every charachter has some bizare name with 3 hyphens or somthing
I sucj at naming things, too, and I usually use naming generators. Or similar things. Here is a tip - go for a theme in the names. You could make them sound Germanic, or Slavic, or Nordic (although, that might feel a bit overdone, at least it does for me), if you wish or maybe try, like, the demon name generators (which are more like...Hebrew mixed with some Latin, actually) or elvish or even evil sounding name generators. Whatever - just keep to a theme so they sound consistent. At least names that should be consistent - if you have two races/kingdoms/worlds/whatever you can use two different themes. Or more, if you have more.
Also, just generate a bunch of names and cherry pick what you want, or combine them. You'll eventually get a feel for what goes best and you might even make up your own. At least that's how I do it and it helps - use automatic generators a lot until I get the hang of it.
Two good sites are:
Seventh Sanctum [http://www.seventhsanctum.com/] - I mean, duh, right? It has most of the fantasy-ish sounding names. I really like the evil sounding name one [http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=evilsoundname], since it's not cheesy likes some others, it produces some believable names (unlike "Riverburn" and "Soulvault" - two I just picked from its peer the evil name generator) while not attaching any inherent meaning to them. They just sound...harsher, actually, might not be evil even.
Fake name generator [http://fakenamegenerator.com/] - this one generates real world names. Real world identities even - complete with telephone numbers, address, emails, credit cards, whatever. You can even make it generate specific set of names, for example - Mexican female names, or Finnish male ones or whatever. Moreover, you can just go and get a bulk of them [http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/order.php] - you can easily get 50k, or up to 150k at one time (IIRC, the limit resets in...an hour or so, if you actually need more than those). Great tool for any setting that's closer to reality. heck, a friend of mine used it to make random football players for a game he was making (I don't think he actually finished it) - just generate a bunch of names and import them into the game - BAM a whole league.
Vault101 said:
[b/]language[/b]
as in how people should talk. I would never in a million years attempt anything "ye olde" it seems alot of fantasy setting speak in a kind of neutral "sounds kind of old but still easy to understand" way, whats your opinion on using more contemporay language? particually curse words
I personally suck with languages even more than I suck with names. If I'm writing something, I usually just give a character, like, an accent (often just going "he said this thing in a thick accent") or just a speech impediment ("Ho-ho-how can I-I help you, mi-mister?"). Obviously the latter won't work for a language but that's the limit of what I can do. I find it absolutely acceptable to use just notes on it ("But what is the plan?" she said in German). Although it's better to indicate foreign languages somehow if there is going to be lots of them or they would be used often. The easiest thing would be to use bold/italics for the foreign languages, here is an example:
Foreigner: What are this small town, gentlemen? You don't look from around these parts.
Protagonist A: Sorry, we don't speak Italian.
Protagonist B: OK, I got this. Yes, we were just travelling but our bus broke down so we're just waiting until it's fixed. Can you tell me a good place to get some food?
Foreigner: Sure, there is a pizzeria near here - take that next left and just head straight, you can't miss it.
Protagonist A: Wow, since when do you know Italian.
Protagonist B: Dude, my parents are from Mexico... and we're in Spain. That was in freaking Spanish. Thank you my, friend, we'll be off now.
You can jumble up the "foreign language" a bit, if you are talking more fantasy-ish or weirder languages - just use slightly odd phrasings and words and/or avoid some things, for example don't use antonyms but negate terms ("not good" instead of "bad", etc), or just use some slightly odd synonyms for things ("this drawer is hollow" instead of "empty").
At least that's how I do it.
Vault101 said:
aside from that what are some other things that I definetly shouldn't do? in regards to say fantasy races and level of cliche's used....or anything else really
Other than that, race wise? Please not the usual fantasy tropes. Elves, dwarves, and everything inherent to them. Sorry I have to say this, but Mass Effect did it and I didn't really like it. The Asari are space elves - pure and simple. They inherit everything elves have - every other race wants to bang them, they have magic, really long lives, and that goddess/natural cycle thing going. The Krogan are one of the many, many barbaric races. Space orcs is a good enough name for them, although they don't use only orcs as basis. The Volus are space Jews.
What you could do, is at least try to present them differently. The elves in the Elder Scrolls games were pretty good, I think - you have them mostly fulfilling anything but they also just look and act like...people. The Dunmer in particular are not really more different than what humans would be - they just look slightly different. Obviously, you'd be basing whatever races you have off of something. Unless you really have an unique idea, in which case I congradulate you, but I'm thinking your ideas would at least be influenced by stuff. Try something more rarely explored - real world is actually quite inspirational. You can have Slavic based things, or maybe a race based on the Ottoman empire. You could even mesh two things together - nomadic tribe with Christian religion, for example. Or a Roman empire that embraced Buddhism. And so on.
For a post apocalyptic scenario, here is a thing that popped up in my head - imagine, like, medieval-ish post apocalyptic scenario. That's more unique. You could have that be the time they found and started colonising the new lands. So it would be something like the American settlers but the "old continent" would be in mostly ruins and dying. You can explore that as you wish. Or you can use the Australian settlement - I admit I have no idea about that, but I imagine there was something - you'll probably know more.
Vault101 said:
my problem with magic is I have trouble figuring out its limits and properties, its a whole lot less interesting that sci fi, that said though it can work somtimes
Just tossing an idea - something I've been meaning to explore more...some time: magic obeys the laws of thermodynamics. Or in other words - you don't get something out of nothing. This is used in Full Metal Alchemist (you can only change properties with alchemy, or change one thing into another) but I'm thinking something slightly different, yet also similar. You want to throw a fireball - you can, but you get that fire from somewhere, somehow. Could be weird transition of heat, or maybe even one substance to another (so, imagine you're turning chants and hand gestures into heat - it would take some chanting, wouldn't it). So mostly, what you do by magic isn't really easier it mostly takes the same effort as other stuff. Well, normally you can't just throw fire around, but if you could, it would take as much effort as casting a fireball spell. Maybe a better example would be telekinesis - you can just go to the gym to be able to lift a horse, or you can study dusty tomes to be able to do it without touching it.
Anyway, just an idea - ignore it if you wish. I'm quite into magic myself, so I'd want to see more of it but you don't need to force yourself to use it if you don't wish to. I'll give you another freebie, though - just today I thought of a somewhat cool premise - an oracle that can't actually tell the future but everybody thinks it can, so they follow the prophesies. And the oracle is exploiting that - using the people's belief in the magical against them. So, while magic doesn't exist, it just seems like it does.
EDIT: Oh, also, since I like Chuck Wendig very much and I think that gives some fucking good advice - here is a read on antagonists [http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/07/24/25-things-you-should-know-about-antagonists/][footnote]although I imagine you've maybe seen it - I have linked to that several times, yesterday I did it too - it's worth if anybody else stumbles upon it and sees it[/footnote] - also check his blog there, he has other useful advice for aspiring writers. And other people who want to write stuff (I don't consider myself a writer but I do write stuff. Sometimes).
Naming things: It's better when the random "fantasy names" are given a solid context and logic in the same way that real world names have been given. The reason that Tolkien's world was so believable even with the Elvish, Dunedain, Easterlings and so on was he had created a fully functional language, then named places using that language. If the towns and cities can be translated into the reader's native language because you have used a logical naming system, whether or not the language is a real one, then you have successfully added a great deal to the believability of your fantasy world.
Continuing on language: I find that I prefer books written in contemporary English because you can immerse yourself in the story, instead of struggling with the author's interpretation of "olde english". Some of the best fantasy worlds I've encountered, such as Lord of the Rings (to some extent, Tolkien used contemporary English for the time of writing), Terry Pratchett's Discworld, The Elder Scrolls, A Song of Ice and Fire, all use contemporary English and make up for it by having a fantastically written story. If you write well, the reader won't even be thinking "but this is modern English!", they'll be too busy paying attention to events, locations and characters. You also make it more accessible by keeping English modern and fluid, and is a great way to ensure your story keeps up a good pacing and flow.
One thing you should definitely do: Terry Pratchett once said that he doesn't like fantasy worlds that have locations that only exist when the author needs them to for the character to progress. Large towns that get no further personification than a street with a blacksmith for the protagonist to find a sword, that kind of thing. Plan your locations carefully, think of the map as a whole, what landmarks can be seen from where. Map out cities, countries, worlds, whatever size is needed for your story, and make sure these places exist and function with or without the protagonist being there. Ankh-Morpork is all the more believable because of Pratchett's decision to include in his stories the running of the city, it's maintenance, it's locations and it's general populace.
Personally, these are the things that can make or break a fantasy story for me. If the world is broken, then the story falls apart. Pay attention to the details and plan well. If your writing style is to sit and write a chunk then edit afterwards, make sure to note where each street, road or landmark was located and which others joined it so that, should your characters come back those locations aren't magically different just to accommodate the new direction of the characters. If you pay attention to the world like this, it makes it much easier to fit in new characters and new stories later, in the same way George Martin and Terry Pratchett have done with their massive worlds.
OK, the video is actually more about writers, actual writers who would publish stuff. I just thought it would be interesting to share anyway as I feel it would help others, too - just ignore the deadlines bit, I suppose and you're done.
Anyway, the story you want to write - what are your expectations for it? Just a personal thing? Something that you'd probably just throw on the Internet, somewhere? Something to publish perhaps (in one form or another - could be fairly unofficial, in like, some online magazine - not a straight up book)? Basically, the more audience you expect, the more I'd suggest just having a look at some creative writing lessons/advice. You can use the Internet even - there are bound to be tons websites and forums. Heck, you can use the Escapist - we have a fair bunch of creative people around here, some even into writing. But one place I would recommend is Myth-Weavers. OK, it's for online roleplay but they at least used to have a creative corner section on the forums, also, there are a quite a lot of people who know much about writing there - I'd personally trust them and and their advice. It might be a place to start, if you feel you need more opinions and such, if (for whatever reason) you don't want it to be the Escapist or another website you frequent.
my problem with magic is I have trouble figuring out its limits and properties, its a whole lot less interesting that sci fi, that said though it can work somtimes
Writing Excuses [http://www.writingexcuses.com/] is also a good site to visit for writing tips. It's a short podcast (most about 15 minutes-ish) by a bunch of writers giving tips on various things. Helps me a ton when I was writing for NaNoWriMo.
Also, you have to plan your ENTIRE world. Draw up a map or something, you have to have various landmarks, where the cities are, small towns and villages... EVERYTHING HAS TO BE MAPPED OUT BEFORE YOU BEGIN WRITING. You can NOT make it up as you go along. I cannot stress how important this is. My first NaNo novel nearly went horribly wrong after I realised I didn't plan out the world properly. Nearly didn't finish in time thanks to it.
On languages... thats a little more complicated. You'll want to throw a few of your own terms in, but too much can and will confuse the reader. An example of too much would be Skyrim's opening. If you watch it and pay attention, you'll find they threw a TON of names and references in without explanation, assuming the player knew what they were. Skyrim was my first game in the Elder Scrolls series, and I had absolutely no clue what the hell they were talking about. You have to find the right balance between interest and familiarity.
My advice is to note down and save all the place names and character names you create when writing up the plot outline, because you can use them again in a different story. The thing is, 99% of all the stories that are started are never finished, and i dare say the OP's story has similar chances. This is why it always helps to save your old plot-outlines from abandoned projects so you can use them in new ones.
When coming up with new names however, firstly you have to identify the kind of "culture" archetype the place and character name derives from. If you're writing about, say, dwarves which are reminiscent of Norse/Germanic culture, obviously you find Norse/Germanic sounding names. When it comes to creating names for characters, i'm quite fond of behind the name [http://www.behindthename.com/] which has a large database of names categorised in terms of "culture", from which you can pick and modify names from. Regarding place names, again find the culture archetype and research that cultures history for inspiration, in particular you can find actual historical place names and modify them, or even take the names of characters and change/modify them into place names.
Just remember that all fantasy is grounded in something we know from the real world- high fantasy is basically Medieval Europe with Christian overtones, steampunk is inspired by the Victorians, even in sci-fi there are points of reference to things we are familiar with from history- For instance the Warhammer 40K universe relates to the late-medieval papacy, Spanish Inquisition and militant Christianity of the early modern era. Having a sound knowledge of history is a great source of inspiration to create fantasy stories from.
Regarding Language
With regards to language, don't try to make your entire story sound Elizabethan, "Olde English", or create entire fictional dialects and fictional languages- that's for linguistic experts and people like Tolkien who have studied ancient languages and used that knowledge to create new languages for Middle Earth. It's so easy to do wrong. There's this one book right next me, it's story is set in Elizabethan England, and it starts off being exceedingly Shakespearian in language, but slowly but surely it slips back into regular English- my point is that even published authors struggle with these kind of things.
Basically, if you're an amateur, have your characters speak in formal(ish) English, but obviously change how the characters speak depending on context, culture, social rank etc- like how they do on Game of Thrones. It's difficult to go into much more detail than that without saying just use your common sense. How a character should speak is heavily context dependent, it's hard to write generalised rules about how to do it.
As for naming things I generally make names after things or characters in mythology (Greek, Norse, Roman, Demons etc). This makes the process of naming easier and you might even assign names to different characters or things in your fantasy world based on attributes that their mythological counterparts have as a way of hinting to your audience something about that character/thing. For example you might name a stealthy or mischievous character Loki or a slight deviation of the word Loki. Or you might name an underwater city or vehicle after Poseidon.
As for language I definitely think that sticking to contemporary English is the best option as it will ensure that your text is as painless to read as possible. Deciphering outdated English or even made up language conventions can be irritating and can get in the way. If you want to give your story a sort of authentic feel then by all means play around with the language, but don't do too much and make sure that it is either easy to figure out or well explained.
Additionally, I'd advise you to pretend that the concept of cliches doesn't even exist. Constantly having to worry about how often your ideas have been done before is pretty futile as a LOT of stuff has already been done before and all it will do is get in the way of your own creativity. Don't restrict yourself by going out of your way to make the most original story ever, originality is good but it should never be the driving force.
If there's one thing I'm really tired of in fantasy and to an extent sci-fi. There is always a lost, hyper advanced and powerful civilization whose relics are the treasures of the current story.
Game of Thrones: Valyria
Lord of the Rings: Ancient Kingdoms of elves and men, as well as the events of the Silmarillion.
Star Wars: The ancient Jedi and Sith were apparently far more powerful than current ones.
Halo: The Forerunners
The Elder Scrolls: Aylieds, Dwemer and Falmer
Mass Effect: The protheans (didn't mind this one so much as they cleverly turned it on its head)
Stargate: The Ancients
The list goes on, virtually any story where they have to retrieve some lost mcguffin, it is always a relic of a lost civilisation.
e.
Anyway, the story you want to write - what are your expectations for it? Just a personal thing? Something that you'd probably just throw on the Internet, somewhere? Something to publish perhaps (in one form or another - could be fairly unofficial, in like, some online magazine - not a straight up book)? Basically, the more audience you expect, the more I'd suggest just having a look at some creative writing lessons/advice. You can use the Internet even - there are bound to be tons websites and forums. Heck, you can use the Escapist - we have a fair bunch of creative people around here, some even into writing. But one place I would recommend is Myth-Weavers. OK, it's for online roleplay but they at least used to have a creative corner section on the forums, also, there are a quite a lot of people who know much about writing there - I'd personally trust them and and their advice. It might be a place to start, if you feel you need more opinions and such, if (for whatever reason) you don't want it to be the Escapist or another website you frequent.
its not somthing serious, perhaps not even a full story, just an Idea I had and I'd like to try and see if I can create some kind of "fantasy" world or otherwise
For god's sake whatever you do, don't name things after mythological/religious creatures, figures or concepts. It's become my by far biggest pet peeve when it comes to naming in fiction. It's so ridiculously overdone that "unoriginal" doesn't even begin to describe it. I tried coming up with an analogy, but I honestly couldn't think of anything that strikes me as equally unoriginal ^^
When it comes to speech and dialect, it might be more trouble then it's worth. Fancied up variations on English are probably not going to make it any more believable or immersing, the risk of it looking cheesy or being annoying to read is pretty high though. Unless you want to go full Tolkien and create a new language, I say just write it in English and let people assume it's translated from whatever language they're actually speaking. Just avoid any obviously modern words or expressions.
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