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johnny johnny is offline
writing machine in bad repair
Default   #17  
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suzerain of Sheol View Post
...which on that note, I'm not sure what it says that our RP group comprises the sum total of responses in this thread.
Regardless of the implications, I'm happy you folks stopped by to discuss this. I think it's been pretty interesting and helpful, for me at least.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Quiet Man Cometh View Post
I guess it matters how much you care about the separation of a new setting versus history. If you don't care that readers assume you are writing an alternate Renaissance (even if you don't use the names of countries or significant people,) then don't worry about the language and connotations. If the setting in quest must absolutely be separated from our history and planet, then more care needs to be put in for word choice.
That's a pretty good point about how much concern I have for the readers assuming it's an alternate reality rather than its own world... I think it may be more that I don't want them to get confused, though, rather than making sure they know the story's universe is its own thing? I don't want them to get pushed out of the story by questions over whether they should be picturing maps as post-apocalyptic Earth maps or just regular Earth maps with the names changed. Distraction can be the enemy of world building.

I'm sure that most people don't know the etymology of words, or at the very least realize that the characters need to say a great many words that shouldn't exist in order to make the dialogue understandable, relatable, and so on -- but are they confused if a hostess in a fantasy asks that guests enjoy an assortment of hors d'oeuvres? It's a word so very obviously French, do they get distracted by the question of where a French phrase came from in a world without France?

I think a lot of novels get away with this sort of thing by populating their world with stand-in countries and cultures and applying the borrowed foreign phrasing to those fictional counterparts. What's everyone's opinion on this workaround?

Old Posted 04-18-2017, 06:03 PM Reply With Quote