A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess used Russian words, unfamiliar to most English speakers, even those who could do Latin/Greek.
As far as making up words, we did that. In that in our short story “Remailer.” How well or poorly, I leave the reader to decide. http://www.sff.net/people/DoyleMacdonald/notwoman.htm
xkcd on the use of made-up words in fiction.
He’s basically right, too. Unless you’re J. R. R Tolkien, and marinated so thoroughly in philology, literature, and Indo-European linguistics that you might as well be writing your novel in Elvish or Anglo-Saxon and translating it into standard English as you go along . . . think twice before adding neologisms to your story’s vocabulary.
But if you have to do it —
Make certain that your invented words can be read and pronounced by an English speaker (if you’re writing in English for an English-speaking audience) with no more than a typical grade-school acquaintance with phonics. If you’re unsure about any of your words, get somebody else to tackle them cold and listen for what works and what doesn’t.
Compounding your new terms from Greek and Latin roots can provide your story with an erudite or technical flavor. If you…
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JAMES D. MACDONALD 