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gmw · 09-23-2016, 04:53 AM

A "glossary" is for explanation of words or terms, so it's not an appropriate heading for offering detailed explanations of "magic systems" - to take one of your examples.

My three currently published novels include a glossary. There were three types of words I included:

* standard English words that had some particular meaning/emphasis within the story; words like "stand" and "glade".

* Sanskrit words (or words I had derived from Sanskrit) that became part of my story, for which I gave their derivation and definition as relevant to the context of my story. Words like "aaranya" and "prana".

* Made up words.

I also used the glossary to offer suggested pronunciation for the words.

I left off any detailed explanations of the eco-system in order to keep the glossary items as brief (and relevant) as I could. If ever readers should demand it, I might consider offering more complete explanations of how it all hangs together (the rules, if you like, of this fantasy) on my website. Such explanations all exist - as I imagine they do for most writers - but they have little place in the main text of the publication.

ETA: A glossary should be redundant. I offered a glossary in my novels for convenience, but my hope is that readers will not actually need it to make sense of the story.

09-23-2016, 04:53 AM	#2
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	A "glossary" is for explanation of words or terms, so it's not an appropriate heading for offering detailed explanations of "magic systems" - to take one of your examples. My three currently published novels include a glossary. There were three types of words I included: * standard English words that had some particular meaning/emphasis within the story; words like "stand" and "glade". * Sanskrit words (or words I had derived from Sanskrit) that became part of my story, for which I gave their derivation and definition as relevant to the context of my story. Words like "aaranya" and "prana". * Made up words. I also used the glossary to offer suggested pronunciation for the words. I left off any detailed explanations of the eco-system in order to keep the glossary items as brief (and relevant) as I could. If ever readers should demand it, I might consider offering more complete explanations of how it all hangs together (the rules, if you like, of this fantasy) on my website. Such explanations all exist - as I imagine they do for most writers - but they have little place in the main text of the publication. ETA: A glossary should be redundant. I offered a glossary in my novels for convenience, but my hope is that readers will not actually need it to make sense of the story. Last edited by gmw; 09-23-2016 at 05:00 AM.