Is 'The Words' Based On A True Story?

If you're doing the math, here's a practical breakdown I like to use. An 80,000-word novel will look very different depending on whether we mean a manuscript, a mass-market paperback, a trade paperback, or an ebook. For a standard manuscript page (double-spaced, 12pt serif font), the industry rule-of-thumb is roughly 250–300 words per page. That puts 80,000 words at about 267–320 manuscript pages. If you switch to a printed paperback where the words-per-page climbs (say 350–400 words per page for a denser layout), you drop down to roughly 200–229 pages. So a plausible printed-page range is roughly 200–320 pages depending on trim size, font, and spacing. Beyond raw math, remember chapter breaks, dialogue-heavy pages, illustrations, or large section headings can push the page count up. Also, mass-market paperbacks usually cram more words per page than trade editions, and YA editions often use larger type so the same word count reads longer. Personally, I find the most useful rule-of-thumb is to quote the word count when comparing manuscripts — but if you love eyeballing a spine, 80k will usually look like a mid-sized novel on my shelf, somewhere around 250–320 pages, and that feels just right to me.

Wow—150,000 words is a glorious beast of a manuscript and it behaves differently depending on how you print it. If you do the simple math using common paperback densities, you’ll see a few reliable benchmarks: at about 250 words per page that’s roughly 600 pages; at 300 words per page you’re around 500 pages; at 350 words per page you end up near 429 pages. Those numbers are what you’d expect for trade paperbacks in the typical 6"x9" trim with a readable font and modest margins. Beyond the raw math, I always think about the extras that bloat an epic: maps, glossaries, appendices, and full-page chapter headers. Those add real pages and change the feel—600 pages that include a map and appendices reads chunkier than 600 pages of straight text. Also, ebooks don’t care about pages the same way prints do: a 150k-word ebook feels long but is measured in reading time rather than page count. For reference, epics like 'The Wheel of Time' or 'Malazan Book of the Fallen' stretch lengths wildly, and readers who love sprawling worlds expect this heft. Personally, I adore stories this long—there’s space to breathe and for characters to live, even if my shelf complains.

I've hunted through a bunch of corners of the internet for this and found the best places where people compile 'Encantadia' vocabulary and meanings. First stop for me is the fan-maintained wiki pages—search for the 'Encantadia' wiki or fandom wiki and you'll often find episode-by-episode glossaries, character pages that list recurring terms, and sometimes a community-made lexicon. YouTube is great too: look for clip breakdowns or fan videos titled with 'Encantadia words' or 'Encantadia language' where people pause and translate lines from scenes. If you want something a bit more conversational, Filipino fan groups on Facebook, Tumblr archives, and Reddit threads (search keywords like "Encantadia words" or "Encantadia dictionary") are gold mines; fans paste lines, debate meanings, and correct each other. There are also PDF or image compilations circulating on blogs and fan pages—sometimes someone has already put together a spreadsheet or Google Doc. For a hands-on approach, I pull episode subtitles, timestamp unfamiliar words, and then cross-check with forum threads; over time you end up with your own mini-dictionary. A few small examples I often see: 'Sang'gre' (a royal keeper/daughter of the realm), 'diwata' (spirit/fairy-like being), and 'Ether' sometimes used in fan glossaries for the magical energy—take fan definitions with a grain of salt, but these communities are the fastest route to a usable list. I love poking around these rabbit holes; it's cozy and nerdy in the best way.

Watching 'Encantadia' unfold on TV felt like stepping into a whole other language — literally. I was hooked by the names, chants, and the way the characters spoke; it had its own flavor that set it apart from typical Tagalog dialogue. The person most often credited with creating those words and the basic lexicon is Suzette Doctolero, the show's creator and head writer. She built the mythology, coined place names like Lireo and titles like Sang'gre, and steered the look and sound of the vocabulary so it fit the world she imagined. Over time the production team and later writers expanded and standardized some of the terms, especially during the 2016 reboot of 'Encantadia'. Actors, directors, and language coaches would tweak pronunciations on set, and fans helped make glossaries and lists online that turned snippets of invented speech into something usable in dialogue. It never became a fully fleshed conlang on the scale of 'Klingon' or Tolkien's Elvish, but it was deliberate and consistent enough to feel real and to stick with viewers like me who loved every invented name and spell. I still find myself humming lines and muttering a couple of those words when I rewatch scenes — the naming work gave the show a living culture, and that’s part of why 'Encantadia' feels so memorable to me.

I get a kick out of how emotional states map to single Hindi words, and clinginess has a bunch of colorful options depending on tone and region. Words I use most are 'चिपकना' (chipakna) — the verb 'to cling' — and the colloquial noun 'चिपकू' (chipkoo) for a clingy person. 'लिपटना' (lipatna) is similar but can feel messier and a bit more physical: someone who 'लिपट जाता है' clings tightly. For more emotional or literary shades, 'आसक्ति' (aasakti) and 'आसक्त' (aasakt) point to attachment or emotional dependence. If you want a harsher word, 'निरपेक्ष नहीं रहना' is too formal, but 'पराधीनता' (paradhinta) captures unhealthy dependency. In everyday speech you'll also hear phrases like 'हर वक्त फोन करना', 'हमेशा पास रहना', or 'छोड़ता ही नहीं' which paint the behavior rather than using a single adjective. Context matters: in close-knit families 'लगाव' (lagaav) or 'नज़दीकी' are softer, while among friends 'चिपकू' can be teasing or insulting. I tend to alternate between the blunt slang and the softer 'आसक्ति' when I want to sound empathetic, and honestly, that mix helps me navigate conversations without sounding cruel.

There are a handful of six-letter verbs that crossword setters reach for when the clue reads 'communicate', and I've learned to spot the likely candidates by tone and crossings. 'Convey' and 'inform' are the two that show up most often for me — 'convey' for getting an idea across and 'inform' when someone is being told something. 'Relate' tends to appear when the clue hints at telling a story or reporting. 'Signal' is the go-to if the clue implies nonverbal or coded communication. 'Impart' has that slightly formal, literary bent and often appears in clues about giving knowledge. I also keep 'notify', 'confer', and 'parley' in the back of my mind: 'notify' for formal notice, 'confer' or 'parley' when the clue leans toward discussion or negotiation. Crossings usually seal the deal, but thinking about whether the clue is formal, conversational, or physical helps me pick the right six-letter fit — it’s a tiny semantic dance that never gets old to me.

Let me gush for a bit — Bengali is loaded with spicy little words and phrases that blow things out of proportion in the most delicious way. I use them all the time when I’m talking with friends: words like ‘একদম’ and ‘পুরাই’ turn mild comments into full-on drama. For example, saying ‘একদম না’ makes rejection absolute, and ‘পুরাই ভুলে গেছি’ feels stronger than just ‘ভুলে গেছি’. I also love the classic hyperboles like ‘আমি মরে যাচ্ছি’ or ‘আমি পাগল হয়ে যাচ্ছি’ — literal death or madness used jokingly to mean extreme surprise or delight. Then there are prefixes and adverbs such as ‘অতি’, ‘অত্যন্ত’, ‘অতীব’, and ‘চরম’ that amp up adjectives: ‘অত্যন্ত সুন্দর’, ‘চরম মজা’. Colloquial boosters like ‘ফাটাফাটি’, ‘জোরে’, ‘ঝকঝকে’, and reduplicative forms like ‘দৌড়াদৌড়ি’, ‘হাইন-হাইন’ make sentences pop. Honestly, context matters — formal writing prefers ‘অত্যন্ত’ or ‘অতি’, while everyday speech leans toward ‘একেবারে’, ‘পুরাই’, or playful words like ‘ফাটাফাটি’. I find mixing a few of these in conversation keeps things colorful without sounding like a cartoon, and I’m always delighted when someone answers with a perfectly timed ‘একদম!’ — it feels like high-five language.

Kicking off a game on 'Dodo Scrabble' right feels like setting the stage for either a slow, cozy match or a one-sided stomp — and I love lining up that first move like it’s a tiny puzzle. For me the best opening words fall into a few practical categories: balanced five-letter starts that leave a playable rack, short high-value plays that exploit the double-word center, and opportunistic plunks with weird letters like Q, Z, J when the tiles allow. If you want a safe, high-expectation opener, aim for the common five-letter stems people always geek out about: 'STARE', 'SLATE', 'TRACE', 'CRATE', 'REACT', 'ALERT', and 'IRATE'. They do a few things at once — they use common letters so you’re likely to be able to play them, they tend to leave a flexible two- or three-letter 'leave' (like a consonant + vowel or a vowel-rich combo) that makes a second move easier, and they don’t give your opponent an obvious clean shot at a triple-word. On the flip side, if you’ve got a juicy high tile you can score big immediately: single-word plays like 'QI', 'ZA', 'JO', 'AX', 'EX' or 'OX' doubled by the center can surprise an opponent and swing tempo. Those feel great and often change the board psychology — suddenly people play more conservatively. Strategy-wise, don’t just chase raw opening points. Think about rack balance (don’t leave all vowels or all consonants), preserve an 'S' or a blank if you can for hooking and bingos later, and be mindful of how your word opens lanes to triple-word scores. Parallel plays and leaving a 2- or 3-letter leave that can turn into a bingo on turn two are golden. I like to mix a little aggression with caution; sometimes a slightly lower-scoring opening that denies a clean triple-word lane is better than the flashier 20-point opener. Ultimately, whether I plop down 'STARE' because it’s a textbook leave or I gamble with 'QI' for instant points, the opening sets the rhythm for the whole match — and getting that rhythm right is half the fun.