SHERI SINGERLING

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Slang. Readers love it or hate it. Writers use it to enhance their writing by adding another layer of immersion.

What Do You Mean by Slang?

I’m not sure that slang is the appropriate word, but I basically mean any word that authors make up. These can be words that stand in for other words or words that describe an object, technology, organization, or concept that doesn’t exist in the real world. Slang can be a useful shorthand and really packs a punch when it comes to world-building. So why doesn’t every sci-fi or fantasy writer make use of it?

Let’s go back to what I said at the beginning of this post. Readers tend to feel very strongly about slang, which makes it either a boon or bane depending on the reader in question. Still, the reader’s taste isn’t the only factor. Using slang in writing is an art.

The Cons

If done poorly, slang can feel very forced and artificial. It can make a reader more aware of the fact they’re reading a story, reducing the immersion rather than adding to it. Slang can also be a major source of confusion, especially when the author first introduces any given word. If too many new concepts are thrown on the page at once, it can be off-putting and might even result in a dreaded DNF (did not finish).

The Pros

That being said, if a reader is partial to slang and it’s done artfully, it can elevate a story to the next level. Now, I’m not saying that writers have to use slang in order to do master-level world-building, but I’d be hard-pressed to find an example of a novel that forewent the use of slang and still managed to truly transport me. I’m biased perhaps. I invite you to prove me wrong with an example!

Slang from the Greats

To prove to you that slang can be a powerful tool in a writer’s arsenal, I want to give a few examples from some novels that nail it. I’ll keep it short and just pull from two sources—A Clockwork Orange and Neuromancer. These are both science fiction novels but with quite different settings, from a very near-future (speculative fiction) dystopia to a future further afield with all the lovely trappings of cyberpunk.

A Clockwork Orange

I don’t want to give a synopsis of these two examples, but I do need to say a bit about the worlds these novels create in order to show the level of world-building. Briefly, A Clockwork Orange is a novel by Anthony Burgess that focuses on a gang of teenagers. This world could be ours now in that the technology is the same (or not really discussed in detail), but the glaring difference comes in how incredibly violent the world seems to be. These kids are brutal, and the novel doesn’t shy away from recounting their exploits in vivid detail. Assault, robbery, murder, drug-rape, and gang-rape.

Dark stuff. But we’re talking about slang. Burgess created what is called Nasdat, and it’s so prevalent in the novel that you almost can’t read it at first. There’s no gentle dip of your toe into the pool of Nasdat. Burgess throws you straight into the water and watches you flail about. It’s fantastic! Can you tell I’m a bit of a masochistic reader?

Here is just a sampling of the glory that is Nasdat, a good portion of which takes inspiration from Slavic languages:

• appypolly loggy = apology
• baboochka = old woman
• cancer = cigarette
• droog = friend
• in-out = sex
• ultraviolence = excessive/unjustified violence

A Clockwork Orange is an extreme. The slang is so dense and sudden that I suspect many readers give up on it within the first few pages. Some editions of the novel even come with a glossary; however, the first edition contained no such aid. Burgess wrote it so that readers could make sense of it if they were persistent.

Neuromancer

Let’s turn our attention to a slightly easier take on slang in sci-fi. Enter the novel that created the subgenre of cyberpunk, Neuromancer by William Gibson. This novel takes place in a world of mega-corporations and is all about high-tech and low-life. This book introduced us to the concept of cyberspace and hackers that plugged into the net. Not surprisingly, there is plenty of slang, but Gibson’s approach is a bit easier on the eyes and mind. He peppers new words throughout the early chapters so that readers have the chance to acclimatize.

Neuromancer doesn’t have its own name for its slang. As I said, it’s less prevalent than Nasdat is in A Clockwork Orange. Still, it adds a lovely flavor to the text that really makes the world come alive. Here are just a few examples of some of my personal favorites:

• jack in = plugging into cyberspace
• flatline = to die/lose brain activity in cyberspace
• deck = computer
• Turing Police = police that monitor AI

My Own Attempts at Slang

After all my gushing over slang, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I use it in my own writing. My technique for coming up with it comes in a few forms. Sometimes, I’m lucky, and a word just pops into my head unbidden as I’m writing. Those are some of my favorites. Other times, I use real-world examples to guide me (e.g., in military slang, pill pusher = doctor). When I’m really struggling for a word, I opt to stare at a combination of synonyms, prefixes, and suffixes for the word.

Some combination of these techniques is how I came up with the slang in my cyberpunk novel Nytho. I’ll sign off by sharing a few of my own examples:

• badge = corporate guard/security person
• bleater = average person (sheep)
• corporate-cadaver = employee of a megacorporation
• header-type = academics/mental health experts
• LANiakea = cyberspace
• pandox = AI with negative connotations
• wantanabe = want to be/poser

Are you yay or nay to slang in writing? Let me know in a comment.