How To Make A Language (the Non-conlangers Guide)
There seems to be two approaches to making new languages for fiction, which is that a) it matters a great deal and you should be a linguist and nothing is more important than the language etc etc etc you know - proper conlanger stuff. This is great if your hobby is building languages, cos language is a whole lot of fun. However, if your goal is telling stories, spending five years building a natural language is probably overkill. I mean, does Quenya or Sindarin actually add that much to LOTR? Before people start posting hateful comments below, I want to make it absolutely clear, I’m solely talking about the books that feature Frodo’s quest to destroy the ring. Let’s add Bilbo’s burglary adventure in too. I’m not talking about the extended mythology, the silmarillion etc. Just the story of a hobbit destroying a ring - translate any elvish in that book into English and it’s still a story about a hobbit destroying a ring.
That’s not to say there isn’t a cool story about a language out there, or waiting to be written, but LOTR isn’t it. It's a cool story with hints of a cool language.
The second approach to conlanging isn’t actually conlanging. It’s just making up some words that don’t appear in English and… it’s horrible. Really horrible.
I'm possibly being elitist but I hate the keyboard smash method.
For one, I never seem to smash vowels: dghcbl; xrdyc; ghkjl; yfhcjkl.
But even if we add vowels and clean it up: Daghecabil, Exradoyac, Ghikayoc, Yafehcojkli. We've no idea how to pronounce these words, and there's no pattern. They could be from 4 different languages.
Thing is, there’s some pretty awesome middle ground.
Quick and Easy (conlanging without conlangs)
Write in English if the POV character understands the spoken language.
"Fire," I said, using the ancient Elven word for fire.
If the POV character doesn't understand, don't use English - but you don't have to use a conlang either.
He muttered a word I didn't catch and the bush burst into fire.
He said something that sounded like... brisket? Brisbane? I don't know, bris-something and the bush burst into fire.
Slightly Harder - Naming Languages
"Brisingr," he said, and the bush burst into fire.
Reddit user u/upallday_allen has this pretty cool guide, which is really good for helping you decide how much of a language you need.
Next, find a real world language that sounds kinda similar to what you want. Get the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbols of the consonants and vowels from that language - maybe take the vowels from a different language so it isn't too similar.
Decide on syllable structure like CV - CVV - CCV - CGV (basically the pattern of Consonants, Vowels and Glides (l, r, y, w usually) in a syllable).
Put your syllable structure and IPA list into Languagen or Randomwords and generate a word list. IMO Awkwords was the best at this, but it's gone now.
If you want a naming language, you're done.
Moderate Difficulty - Cameo Languages
If you need a few basic sentences, feed the info you have so far into a language generator like Vulgar.lang or one of the others.
You wanted a cameo language and now you're done.
Extreme Difficulty - Full Language
If you need a more fuller language, go to zompist - and work through the conlangers guide there. Get advice from r/conlangs and check out past posts. Look for the conlang communities on here. If you get really into it, maybe buy the Language Construction Kit and Advanced Language Construction Kit and Conlanger's Lexicon and the Art of Language Invention books (links go to Amazon). I own and have read all of these and definitely recommend them.
Understand that you will now never be done.
Comedic Use Only - Use A Real Language
In Noun of Noun and Adjective, Torta de la Taza del bárbaro™ speaks Mayincatec. Link goes to TV tropes. Mayincatec is the name given to Hollywoods mash of all South American pre-Colombian civilisations into one uber-civ.
Mayincatec in Noun of Noun and Adjective is presented in Spanish, but the words clearly don't translate correctly. The Spanish that he uses has nothing to do with the scene he is in: in fact, if you put all the Spanish dialogue together, you get this awesome recipe for vegan chocolate cupcakes.
This works really well, and is hilarious, but it is not recommended for anything that is a serious piece of fiction.