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Topic : 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 - selfpublishingguru.com

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First, think about what is universal and what is specific to our own planet, species, or culture.

Like, would aliens have the color blue? Color is a basic phenomenon of physics. The same colors exist everywhere in the universe. I suppose it's possible that there would not be any blue things on their planet, but this seems pretty unlikely. Surely something, somewhere on the planet is blue. As human beings have learned to synthesize colors electronically, I have yet to hear someone say, "Zounds, if we generate just this frequency of light, there's a color totally unlike any color that anyone has seen before!"

I suppose an alien might not be able to see the color blue. But frankly, unless you're going to build a plot point around that -- the humans are able to sneak messages past the aliens because they write them in blue and the aliens can't see blue, or something of that sort -- I think it just gets too obscure to be worth worrying about.

On the other hand, do they have lilacs on this alien planet? Well, I suppose at that point you get into theories of origins. An evolutionist would surely say that the probability of something as specific as one particular species of plant evolving twice on two different planets is pretty small. A creationist would say that a creator God COULD create the same plant on two different planets, but would he? Considering the diversity of life on Earth, even a creationist wouldn't expect to find ALL the same plants and animals on another planet, any more than he expects to find all the same plants and animals in Australia that one finds in Norway.

So yes, I think you have pretty much no choice but to make up names for the plants and animals on their world. If you make a big deal of all these made-up names it could sound silly and contrived. Like I wouldn't have a scene where a character goes for a walk and says, "Oh look, a burgwhal tree. And there are some mijnik flowers. And see the wagmeers flying overhead ..." I'd keep the number of made-up species to a minimum.

And remember that the reader will have no idea what you have in mind when you refer to a made-up species unless you explain it. Like if you say, "He was walking down the road when suddenly he saw a majneek!" Well if you've never before said what a majneek is, the reader has no idea if that is a dangerous wild animal, a pleasant-smelling flower, an occupational title, a hand tool, or what. If it's not important to the story, explaining many such references would just get tedious and boring. Where possible I'd use such words in a context that makes the nature of the thing obvious, at least in a general way. I mean, you don't need to say, "Suddenly he saw a majneek! On this world, a majneek is a large, orange furry animal that inhabits the tropical regions, and that ..." whatever. Rather, you could say, "Suddenly he was attacked by a large, ferocious majneek! He grabbed hold of its furry mane and tried to wrestle it to the ground." Or, "He handed his girlfriend a bouquet of beautiful majneeks. 'I picked these for you', he said". If the reader doesn't need to know exactly what the thing looks like or it's hibernation patterns or mating cycle, then don't slow down the story by bringing it up. If I was writing such a story, I'd certainly use a made-up name for, say, a local flower rather than saying "roses" in such a context. The reader will get the idea and move on.

Of course the aliens wouldn't even know the word "Earth" as presumably they don't speak English. I'd guess that you are writing your story in English (or whatever your native language is), and all dialog is assumed to be translated from the alien language into English. In such a case, calling their planet "Earth" would just be confusing. Earth is the (English) name of our planet, not theirs. Likewise it wouldn't make much sense for them to call themselves "humans". "Human" doesn't mean "us", it is the name of a specific species. You could debate more general terms. I presume aliens would call themselves "living beings". (Unless you're supposing they are not "living" in some sense.) Of course aliens wouldn't call themselves "aliens", they'd consider Earth people to be aliens. Etc.

One last thought: If you use a made-up word in a context where it is supposed to be a surprise or a dramatic revelation -- like if the climax of your story is when the hero says, "Suddenly I realized that Frabnar was a majneek!" -- that is not a good time to explain what the word means, because then you ruin the suspense. So come up with an excuse to refer use this word and explain it earlier in the story.

By the way, I am reminded of an article I read about writing science fiction many years ago, where the writer urged the reader to be careful about casual references that don't make sense in context. One example he gave that I recall was to point out that the phrase "Try a different tack" is a reference to sailboats, and so someone living on a world with no seas would be unlikely to use any such phrase. Or in Disney's cartoon "The Little Mermaid", they had what I thought was a very clever line where a mermaid is making fun of the lack of courage of another sea creature, and says, "You're such a guppy." I had to give them credit: A human might say, "You're such a chicken", but of course a mermaid probably wouldn't even know what a chicken is, never mind make a casual reference to one. But calling someone a "guppy" -- I can easily imagine that being an equivalent insult for a mermaid.


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