Capitalized Terms in Spec Fic

mommyjo2 said:

Hmm, so humans are Earthlings, then?

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I prefer the term "Terrans" since I use Sol, Terra, Luna instead of Sun, Earth, Moon to represent the specific object at the center of the Solar System and the third and forth objects circling it.

That's like calling people Dirtlings (as one definition of earth is dirt).

Liosse de Velishaf said:

Well, you are partially correct, the issue was opacity, but "term" is not completely synonomos to "word". The capitalized terms are common english words, but retasked as proper nouns.

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I get what you're saying (I think) because I'm doing the same thing in one of my WIPs. Specifically a group of characters have a metaphysical concept called the "Road," which I capitalize to make sure the reader distinguishes it from a road. And I'm pretty happy with my choice of capitalizing it.

However, it gets a bit fuzzy when I consider other words that the characters use, which have a particular meaning as specialized terms within that group. I can say "I had a guide lead me through the mountains," but when they say "guide" the word has a particular meaning within their group. So should I capitalize it so readers understand I'm referring to that particular thing? Should the council of elderly members that advises the group be referred to as the elders or the Elders? Etc. Etc. I have not found a satisfactory answer to this, but I welcome opinions.

Liosse, if your beta readers are complaining that the terms as you're using them are opaque, that may be less an issue of capitalization and more an issue of defining these terms so the readers understand. But without a specific example, I'm not sure if I can give better advice than that.

Richard White said:

I prefer the term "Terrans" since I use Sol, Terra, Luna instead of Sun, Earth, Moon to represent the specific object at the center of the Solar System and the third and forth objects circling it.

That's like calling people Dirtlings (as one definition of earth is dirt).

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That would be an interesting thing to put in a sci-fi: some alien race (or even space-faring humans) call Earth people "dirtlings," due to some mistranslation that caught on as popular slang.

Liosse de Velishaf said:

It's not an issue of beta readers finding a draft opaque. It's my NaNo synopsis, which obviously isn't going to fit too many definitions without looking rather funny.

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Oops, I got through the entire thread, then posted without re-reading the first post! My bad

Still, as I said in my response, I have not yet found a perfect solution to this.

I can't name a specific book that has "dirtlings", but aliens calling the planet Dirt, rather than Earth, is a common trope.