Have any of you tried to create a fantasy or synthetic language for characters or a culture in a story?
How did you go about it?
I used to make languages based around our standard english alphabet, minus certain redundant letters (w, x, c, y, etc.).
When I read the thesis on language creation at http://www.angelfire.com/ego/pdf/ng/lng/ , I found that there's a lot more to it than that.

I didn't even knopw about fricatives, affricates, approximates or any of that stuff before reading this.

Personally, I don't think you should have a set standard of writing your own language for a novel or short story. Sure it shoud be pronouncable and literate. The focus of it should be on your characters and the emotions and history of their world. Too many times, I have seen authors mainstream ideas and concepts. I like to see fresh original ideas. 

that's a good point. But a language adds an extra depth to the story, if the plot and ideas are in place. Besidews, for most language-creators, like the ones on conlang.com, creating a language is not solely for the story. Most often, people make a language for the pure reason of enjoying such things. It is a hobby. A game. A passion.