Calling a horse a grue...
Nov. 10th, 2004 08:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccastareyesI hope I got the quote right -- Googling didn't give me any results.
Okay, as sort of a writing exercise (and because three out of five classes this semester are too slow for me),I've been working on a sequal for my webcomic. Yes, I am aware I am nowhere near done with the comic. But I know how it ends.
Anyways, all of my POV characters are aliens (Alri and a new character) and the opening scene features interactions solely within the species. And I am running into a lot of things.
When dealing with somehting that is alien, but similar (but not identical) to a human concept, how do I balance showing that these are aliens and avoiding silliness caused by complexity and made-up alien terms?
Length and Time: Some units of time are near-universal -- days, years, probably months. Well, and a few quantum-mechanically-defined constants, but let's not go into those. But I keep having to remember not to have Alri give distances in meters or time in minutes in her head -- while she knows them, they are not her first resort. In fact, she would only use them when speaking to humans. I'm wondering if I should make up my own units of time and distance and how to integrate that into the story in such a way that the readers know how long one aopi (or whatever) is.
Mythology: When encountering something new, Alri will most likely try tocompare it to something known. Alri may have studied human mythology, but her first instinct is Darynese mythology. So, when she encounters a ghostly apparation that appears to be sucking the life force out of its victim, is it accpetable to call it a wraith when Alri is most likely thinking naeryn,or should I just translate this thoguth with the rest?
Body Language: I like having body language in dialogue-heavy passages to avoid the 'heads in space' effect those passages can give. I like showing, not telling, how characters feel. How the hell do I do that when I am dealing with people for which a nod or a shrug or avoiding eye contact might not mean what we think it means?
I had a similar issue in the comic. Several times I've switched into Darynese when the characters are speaking Darynese, providing translations at the bottom of the panel. Both times it was to show something -- Alri's use of the language to talk to Riki was a deliberate attempt to emphasize the fact she and Riki were from the same species, while the other two crew members are not. Aris's use of the language in Issue 1 was to show that she was upset enough that speaking English was not likely, even were she speaking to a stranger.
Now I'm in Issue 3 and I have a scene where Alri and Riki are alone. There is no reason they would not switch to Darynese, since it is their mother tongue. I just don'tknow if it serves any point inme showing it, or it would just be distracting.
Okay, as sort of a writing exercise (and because three out of five classes this semester are too slow for me),I've been working on a sequal for my webcomic. Yes, I am aware I am nowhere near done with the comic. But I know how it ends.
Anyways, all of my POV characters are aliens (Alri and a new character) and the opening scene features interactions solely within the species. And I am running into a lot of things.
When dealing with somehting that is alien, but similar (but not identical) to a human concept, how do I balance showing that these are aliens and avoiding silliness caused by complexity and made-up alien terms?
Length and Time: Some units of time are near-universal -- days, years, probably months. Well, and a few quantum-mechanically-defined constants, but let's not go into those. But I keep having to remember not to have Alri give distances in meters or time in minutes in her head -- while she knows them, they are not her first resort. In fact, she would only use them when speaking to humans. I'm wondering if I should make up my own units of time and distance and how to integrate that into the story in such a way that the readers know how long one aopi (or whatever) is.
Mythology: When encountering something new, Alri will most likely try tocompare it to something known. Alri may have studied human mythology, but her first instinct is Darynese mythology. So, when she encounters a ghostly apparation that appears to be sucking the life force out of its victim, is it accpetable to call it a wraith when Alri is most likely thinking naeryn,or should I just translate this thoguth with the rest?
Body Language: I like having body language in dialogue-heavy passages to avoid the 'heads in space' effect those passages can give. I like showing, not telling, how characters feel. How the hell do I do that when I am dealing with people for which a nod or a shrug or avoiding eye contact might not mean what we think it means?
I had a similar issue in the comic. Several times I've switched into Darynese when the characters are speaking Darynese, providing translations at the bottom of the panel. Both times it was to show something -- Alri's use of the language to talk to Riki was a deliberate attempt to emphasize the fact she and Riki were from the same species, while the other two crew members are not. Aris's use of the language in Issue 1 was to show that she was upset enough that speaking English was not likely, even were she speaking to a stranger.
Now I'm in Issue 3 and I have a scene where Alri and Riki are alone. There is no reason they would not switch to Darynese, since it is their mother tongue. I just don'tknow if it serves any point inme showing it, or it would just be distracting.
