: Re: How to deal with common Earth references in a non-Earth setting? Until now, I have mostly written in settings similar enough to Earth, mostly with human beings. For the first time, I am writing

Much of this will fall under normal "suspension of disbelief" for most readers. We don't demand complete realism from our fiction, and Earthlike planets, fantasy realms or alternate realities are generally granted license to be as much or as little like Earth as they need to be (as long as you are consistent). With that said, I have varying intuitions about your specific questions:

He had never seen eyes as blue as hers.

This one is a yes for me regarding the word "blue." (On the other hand, if your aliens are all blond-haired, blue-eyed and pale-skinned that raises for me an entirely different set of concerns. Double, if that's just the "good" aliens!) You could go with "as purple as hers" or "as yellow as hers" if you want a little harmless exoticism.

She smelled like fresh lilacs.

The problem here is that lilacs are local, even on Earth, which makes this feel a little TOO close to home. If you want to avoid laughable coinages like "garozias," what about something like "she smelled like fresh nightflowers"?

And that is how Earth was granted to humanity.

If you don't want this to be Earth, don't call it "Earth." I think this is a place you can't avoid a coinage. I think you can make a case for "humanity" being okay, if they are just like Earth humans. Otherwise, you might want to make up a relatively generic coinage like "The People" or "The Folk," or name them after their own planet.

In summary, I would treat this as if you were writing about a foreign country. It shouldn't sound exactly like home, but it's a place where "people" live. You don't have to kill yourself making it wholly alien.

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: I would credit the actor but not their role if that's possible, credit them by name as part of an "and others" section for the parts with no lines. Or maybe disguise their role, instead

@Sarah872

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: First draft Word count. Do you find your first draft is longer or shorter than your completed work? I understand that I will be cutting alot of unnessary words, but I also have a list of

@Sarah872

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: "the antagonists are all irredeemably evil" that causes me issues, people, real people, are never all of one thing. Part of showing that the protagonist is human is showing that those he opposes

@Sarah872

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: Early investment in a character who "learns better" I'm looking for ways to build early reader investment in an unlikable character who "learns better," but not until fairly late in the book.

: Re: How to deal with common Earth references in a non-Earth setting? Until now, I have mostly written in settings similar enough to Earth, mostly with human beings. For the first time, I am writing

More posts by @Sarah872

: I would credit the actor but not their role if that's possible, credit them by name as part of an "and others" section for the parts with no lines. Or maybe disguise their role, instead

: First draft Word count. Do you find your first draft is longer or shorter than your completed work? I understand that I will be cutting alot of unnessary words, but I also have a list of

: "the antagonists are all irredeemably evil" that causes me issues, people, real people, are never all of one thing. Part of showing that the protagonist is human is showing that those he opposes

: Early investment in a character who "learns better" I'm looking for ways to build early reader investment in an unlikable character who "learns better," but not until fairly late in the book.

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