As a treat, we offer this bonus Monday writer interview!

Sabitha: Every science fiction and fantasy author knows the importance of language. From Tolkien’s Elvish to the dialectic variations in The Expanse, language tells us about the world the characters live in and what they value. But how do you craft the perfect words for your story? CD Covington is here to tell us about her latest project, a Kickstarter-funded book designed to do exactly that.

CD: I’m a science fiction writer and a linguist, and I’m working on a writer’s guide to linguistic worldbuilding and funding it via kickstarter. Linguistic worldbuilding encompasses everything from what sounds exist in the language(s) in your setting to naming schemes to proverbs and cuss words. I’m going to teach you how to do it using both analysis of existing books that do it well and contemporary linguistics research.

Sabitha: What inspired you to write this book?

CD: Around the time I was finishing my thesis, I had the idea to write about how language and linguistics are portrayed in science fiction and fantasy. It was 2019, the movie Arrival had recently come out, and Gretchen McCulloch’s Because Internet had hit the shelves. The first few seasons of The Expanse were out on SyFy. There was a lot to write about! So I pitched a column to tor.com. After I wrote a few columns, I noticed some patterns in them, and they boiled down to linguistic worldbuilding. I initially started it with a Patreon, which was a mistake, because I never got enough subscribers to let me focus on the linguistics stuff. But I have a draft of the first quarter or so of the book ready to go and an outline for the rest.

Sabitha: What book do you tell all your friends to read?

CD: I always recommend CJ Cherryh because I love her writing, and she also does amazing linguistic worldbuilding. She’s very good at making non-human cultures that aren’t just humans with pointy ears or fur, and she uses their languages to reflect their (non-human) psychology. Foreigner is about translation and intercultural communication (and how it can go wrong), and the main character is a linguist-diplomat, so it’s got a special place in my heart.

Sabitha:  What’s your next writing project?

CD: If this Kickstarter funds, I’ll be working on this book until it’s ready. But when that’s done, I’ll revise my asexual lesbian science fiction romance and decide whether I want to self publish or go down the query rabbit hole.

Sabitha: I am so excited for this project. Where do we find the Kickstarter? And where do we find you?

CD: You can find the Kickstarter here. You can find my work on Tor, or on my website. I’m on Mastodon, Twitter (rarely), Tumblr, Instagram (mostly random pictures), and Youtube.