Race reference rules/preferences?

Caramia · Jun 16, 2009

I've seen this done both ways so keep bouncing back and forth between the two styles and really need to settle on one or the other. I pose the pickle to my peers

In your stories where created races are mentioned repeatedly, do you tend to use the capital first letter, or all lower case? Are there any concrete rules regarding how this should be addressed?

A few examples pulled from the void of nothingness for clarification and simplicity purposes:

The elf stomped a foot in anger.
The Elf stomped a foot in anger.
The angel sulked in the corner.
The Angel sulked in the corner.
The goddess wiggled her tushie.
The Goddess wiggled her tushie.

Appreciate the time & tips!

Fenika · Jun 16, 2009

I started with upper case and decided it was 'tacky' after about the 2,000th rep of the word. I went with lower case in the end.

Titles on the other hand stayed cap'ed ofc. The White Goddess or w/e.

Parametric · Jun 16, 2009

Lower case. Unnecessary capitalisation looks cluttered to me and recalls Ye Olde Fantasy Capitals of Significance, eg. the Prophecy, the Chosen One, etc.

Cyia · Jun 16, 2009

You don't capitalize "human" as in human race, so why would you capitalize any other race?

God and Goddess are generally only capitalized in reference to Judeo/Christian God and Pagan Goddess from what I've seen - unless it's part of a title. Ares: God of War, as opposed to Ares the god of war.

If one of your races is a boogey man kind of thing, then capitalization can help bring that across.

MargueriteMing · Jun 16, 2009

You capitalize proper names. Used to be you capitalized all nouns, not any more.

Caramia · Jun 16, 2009

Think that is what had me confuzzled, MargueriteMing. I remember being docked in a class for not capitalizing such words. I've seen it done the other way by many and for the most part, I prefer the the lower case version. It just reads and feels smoother I guess.

Thank you all for the input!

Canotila · Jun 16, 2009

If you are identifying by species, I would go with lower case. If you are identifying a humanoid (or other intelligent being) by their culture (religious or otherwise) or geographic place of origin, then it probably ought to be capitalized.

For example, we live in a world of humans. But within that world are Chinese, Canadians, Aboriginals, Africans. Within those boundaries are Quebecois, Ethiopians, Maori, etc. And within those boundaries you have Metis, Felashas, etc.

If you look at Tolkien's work, he had elves, dwarves, man, etc. But within those species were the Sindar, Eglath, Laiquendi, Noldor, Rohirrim, Easterlings, Dunlendings, etc. respective of their culture and geographic origins.

Thomas_Anderson · Jun 16, 2009

Only capitalize God or Goddess if s/he is the only one of their kind. If you wrote a pantheon of gods and goddesses, stick to lower case. Everything else would be better as lower case since, as stated, we don't capitalize human.

mercs · Jun 17, 2009

You wouldn't say Human or Dog or Cat, so why bother with made up races. That's my opinion...

calley · Jun 17, 2009

I go with lowercase; human, fish, alien--they're all lowercase. If your created races are a natural part of your world, it wouldn't make much sense to me if to capitalize 'em.

ChaosTitan · Jun 17, 2009

Whatever you choose to do, be consistent. I've seen variations go both ways. My series has "weres" while another UF has "Weres."

Caramia · Jun 17, 2009

Yep, been going through getting it all uniformed. (Love that the majority were for lower case!) Only on chapter ten, so better now than later.

Just having a lovely debate with my microsoft 2007 not wanting to replace properly. It's all good though, I am not so spoiled that I cannot click find and manually alter the words.

Thanks again. Bunches of help!

-stomps off to throw tantrum-

MargueriteMing · Jun 17, 2009

mercs said:
You wouldn't say Human or Dog or Cat, so why bother with made up races. That's my opinion...

No, but you would say Humanity, Klingons, Vulcans, Tholians, Romulans, etc, as the formal names of races.

Canotila · Jun 17, 2009

MargueriteMing said:
No, but you would say Humanity, Klingons, Vulcans, Tholians, Romulans, etc, as the formal names of races.

The interesting thing about that example, is that Romulans come from Romulus, Vulcans from Vulcan, etc. but Humanity does not come from Human. Earthlings come from Earth. We have a tendency to want to identify people by their geographic origins, which in some cases means a planet.

I wonder what the word for "Klingon" as in a Klingon person, is in the Klingon language. Any speakers among us? I'm guessing it isn't the federations word. We don't identify ourselves by planet, as there are many Earthling species, we identify ourselves by species.

Race reference rules/preferences?

Caramia

Alliteration Afflicted

Fenika

Parametric

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny

MargueriteMing

Caramia

Alliteration Afflicted

Canotila

Sever your leg please.

Thomas_Anderson

mercs

calley

ChaosTitan

Around

Caramia

Alliteration Afflicted

MargueriteMing

Canotila

Sever your leg please.