How to write Ghost Speak stylised, without using Zalgo text [Z̶̙̓́͂͗ầ̶͚̂͝l̶̡͖̘͖̟̙͋ģ̴͔͉̬̣̙̄̕ó̶̳̏̆̕]
I see a lot of Danny Phantom fanfic writer use Zalgo text for Ghost Speak, however it's usually unreadable and it often makes the text around it unreadable too. It's fun to use a stylised font for fictional languages like this, so here's some proposition of what to use instead:
(I'll be using this as an example: "Hi, my name is Phantom" the floating boy said and landed. "and I think I can help.")
Zalgo with controled level of text corruption
Zalgo.org allows you to control the "craziness" of the text, and unzalgo the text, which can help when adding the translation of it.
Example:
Regular level: H̴̨̛̺͎̼̭͖̜̟̹̪̮͖̼͇̏̋̐͛̓̃̏͜ͅi̶̡̡̡̺͚͚̣͙͇̦̞͙̬̍̀̄̋̏̕̚,̶̛̛̮͕̩̫̜̖̤̰̜̰̝̜̮̅͋̒̉̓͂̂̇̃̂͘͘͝ͅ ̷͎̭̊͌̆́m̸̧̡͎͈͓̀̍̐̽̎͂͆́͠y̵̬̑̈́̓̓ ̶͓͎̲̣̹̞̮̞̟̲͊́̾ǹ̴̜̟̤̺̳̂̒̌̂̍̋̐̑͘͝ͅa̴̡͍̱̞̟̫̗͔͔̗̜̮̳̅̈́͌̑̓̆̋̇̅̈̚̚͜͝m̷̰̣͍͔̱̩̖͕̈́͒̒͂̋̐̍̓͌͑̈̏̚̚̚̕͜͝ͅe̶̩̫̿̈͑̊́̀ ̴̻̝͔̼͇̮͎̝͔̠̋̊̈́̄̂̍̊̍͝ͅi̷̡̜͙͈͛͛̑̎̽̓̅̏̏͋̓͠ṡ̸̡̺̻͖̥̗͆̋̔̌̕ ̵̡̯̜̰̤̝͔̹͕̻̬̝̳̄͆͛́͂̓͘͝͝͝ͅP̴̛̣̈̓͛̊͂̐͗̍̃̆̉̂̓͠ͅh̶̨̠̫̥̺̋̇̈́͋̒͗̾̽̃͘͠a̸̖͍̺͇̟͇̠̹̺̓̀̈́̈́̾̆̔͋̎̇͌̾͠͝n̸̡̡̛͉̜̖̱̭͍͖̯͉̾͒̈́͆̈́̕͝t̴̺̥̼̱͚̙͕̖̺̖̣̜͐̅͑ò̸͙̣̫̫̬̟̼͝m̶̞̜͓̤͔̠̞͙̩̣̮͇̲͇̞͈̎̽́̕̕͜"̸̡̛̠̗͕̣̰̳̝̖̯̣̤̯̥͊̀̈́̓̾̽͂̓̉͛̿̀ ̸̢̢̡̛̫͈̠͖̪̦̦̰̤̰̥͖̥̪̏́̏̐͆̍̌̉̈́̎̆̕͝͝the floating boy said and landed. ̷̱̤̰̮̫͍͖̅̋̈́̾̎̓̃̉̏̒͠"̸̨̛̯̮̹̪͖̘͙̗̩͈̬̠̾̽̑͌͂̀̑̎͐͐͂̄̔̾͘͝ḁ̴̭̘͙̪̜̘̤̘͚̬̫̟͕̤͔̇͋͘n̵̤̟͔͈̣̜̝͉̓̆̈́͌̂͒̿̉̊̈́̚͘d̸̬̳͙̤̣͈̬͔̫̈́ ̶̧̨̡̮̫͔͙̪̼̫̪̹̱͍̙͌̃͜ͅĮ̵̘̌͒͋̉͊͒̑͋̆̾̅͠͝͠ ̶̺̪͇̰̐́͗́̈͂̋͊̉̿̔̎͝͝ţ̵̡̭̯̫̼̦͚̯̯͇͎͐́͌̍͛͊͆ͅh̷̤̼͙̯̪̟̩̗̿į̶̧̡̗͇͍̰̬̣̒̅̕̕͜͝͝ņ̷̮̤̫̙̼͚̟̮͓̲͖̤̙͕̾͑̂ͅḵ̴̝̟̲̤̈͗͝ ̸̦͓̮͍̗̜͕̗̟͔̑͛̀ͅI̴̡̻̱̮̺͕̝͎̠͉͍͙̐͐͛̓̈́̀̆̾̋̂̂̊̉͠ͅ ̸̱͎̖͕͚̪̝͇͎͕̼̟̗͔͋̾̆̾͋̓͒͠͝c̸͎̱̹̦̰̝̦̻͚̘̰̥̞̰̩̱͛̾̓͝a̵̩̦͙̼̠̼̱̲̬̣͈̓͛̈̾̔̋̈́̾̾̑̕͘͜͝͝ͅṋ̴͚̹͈̦͎̩̫͓̃́̅̆̄̈́́͜͝ ̶̢͕̳̘̯͎̺͓͙̯̖̃̎̆̊̃͐́́̿̀̀͌̔ḥ̶̘̩̆͛͒͌̐̅̈́̕͝͝e̷͙͊̌́͋̆̄̂̎̓͑̈́̓̄͠͠l̵̛̫̥͇̞͉̓̀̎̈́̐͠͝ṕ̶͍̈̔̈́͂͗̒͛͋͠.̴̜͚̲͕̘̣͙̩̻̈́͐̽"̵̩̳̈̑́̈́̔́͒̒̃͐̏̆
Lowest level: "̷H̸i̴,̶ ̴m̷y̵ ̷n̸a̴m̷e̴ ̵i̷s̷ ̵P̴h̷a̵n̴t̴o̴m̵"̸ ̸the floating boy said and landed. ̵"̴a̶n̷d̴ ̵I̵ ̴t̵h̵i̷n̷k̵ ̴I̶ ̴c̷a̸n̴ ̶h̷e̴l̵p̷.̷"̸
Any of the fonts you like on Fontgen or Messletters
Fontgen.net is a fancy font generation, it has many different fonts and font decorations. I recommend you check it out, although going through all of them can be a bit annoying.
There's also Messletters generator that has some different fonts, you can also corrupt any of them if you want by using buttons at the top. Remember that not everyone font will be possible to corrupt. Sometimes it shows a letter as a box, as if the font doesn't have it, but often, if it's a singular letter, that's not true.
Another popular fancy text generator is LingoJam's Fancy Letter generator, although be aware that LingoJam has other generators that use AI, mostly those photo based.
Diagonal Stripes
This is the only suggested font that works with screen reading. Google's voices read it properly as words, Microsoft voices spell the letters.
Example:
"H̷i̷, m̷y̷ n̷a̷m̷e̷ i̷s̷ P̷h̷a̷n̷t̷o̷m̷" The floating boy said and landed. "a̷n̷d̷ I̷ t̷h̷i̷n̷k̷ I̷ c̷a̷n̷ h̷e̷l̷p̷."
Smooth
For this I recommend you change some letters, like for example i and h, to lower case, because imo it looks better, but that's up to you.
Example:
"нι, му ηαмє ιѕ Ƥнαηтσм" The floating boy said and landed. "αη∂ ι тнιηк ι cαη нєℓρ."
This font, of which I unfortunately can't find the name of.
You can for sure find it on Fontgen in the 'Swirly Font Generator' section.
Example:
"ᏂᎥ, ᎷᎩ ᏁᏗᎷᏋ ᎥᏕ ᎮᏂᏗᏁᏖᎧᎷ" The floating boy said and landed. "ᏗᏁᎴ Ꭵ ᏖᏂᎥᏁᏦ Ꭵ ፈᏗᏁ ᏂᏋᏝᎮ."
Stupid
Example:
"Hɨ, ʍʏ ռǟʍɛ ɨֆ Pɦǟռȶօʍ" The floating boy said and landed. "ǟռɖ ɨ ȶɦɨռӄ ɨ ƈǟռ ɦɛʟք."
Cherokee
In some generators it looks like it doesn't support the letter F or f, but it does, so don't worry.
Example:
"Ꮋꮖ, ꮇꭹ ɴꭺꮇꭼ ꮖꮪ Ꮲꮋꭺɴꭲꮻꮇ" The floating boy said and landed. "ꭺɴꭰ Ꮖ ꭲꮋꮖɴꮶ Ꮖ ꮯꭺɴ ꮋꭼꮮꮲ."
Those are just some of my favourite that's the most readable, but you can explore different fonts on your own and find something you like!
