Science fiction vernacular in 3rd limited

Personally I find the dropping of a new term followed by an explanatory infodump eyerolling. Whereas I readily accept made-up words if they are introduced in context. I've heard of readers who allegedly balk at unfamiliar words, but I kind of wonder why they're reading SF/fantasy if that's true. How would people ever make it through Gene Wolfe or China Mieville if that attitude was universal?

Albedo said:

Personally I find the dropping of a new term followed by an explanatory infodump eyerolling. Whereas I readily accept made-up words if they are introduced in context. I've heard of readers who allegedly balk at unfamiliar words, but I kind of wonder why they're reading SF/fantasy if that's true. How would people ever make it through Gene Wolfe or China Mieville if that attitude was universal?

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Or pretty much any other SF or F novel set in a time and place that isn't the contemporary world.

I've wondered the same thing, but I've encountered proof readers who really, really, really hate it when you use a word they don't know (whether it's a regular, everyday word, a historic term that's appropriate for the setting, or something you made up and presented in context). I had someone who was upset by the use of the word "nocked" in reference to using a bow, which I know I've encountered in plenty of other fantasy novels. I don't know if it's a good idea to take their concerns seriously or to dismiss them as "clearly not my target audience."

I think it's a balance, and also depends on how critical the term is. If it's central to the plot then a bit of explanation is necessary, but if it's not entirely critical then I think you can just gradually drop in details, if it's necessary at all.

To me, the most effective approach for explaining a term that might be unfamiliar to the reader is to try and avoid a blunt, in your face infodump, but simply hint at some of the details (dialogue can be very effective for this) to provide context for it. The reader is more than likely able to fill in any blanks you leave, if you provide enough tangibles for them to get a grasp, hence why I think "balance" is the right way to go about it.

For the times this has cropped up for me, I just try to give a working explanation. I "infodump" just as much as necessary for the story to continue, which is usually a handful of words at most. You don't need to explain the intricacies of a warp drive in order for the reader to understand the proper name you've given it.

In other instances, especially dialogue, the unfamiliar words are mostly atmospheric anyway and I just leave them. An example for me is when characters mention "caps" as short for "capsules" or small craft meant for short orbital jaunts. It's always made apparent what the character is talking about in context.

Short explanations don't bother me, as long as they aren't too frequent. A sentence here or there won't slow things down to much. Entire paragraphs of infodump...that's a different story.

Roxxsmom said:

I had someone who was upset by the use of the word "nocked" in reference to using a bow, which I know I've encountered in plenty of other fantasy novels. I don't know if it's a good idea to take their concerns seriously or to dismiss them as "clearly not my target audience."

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I'd opt for dismissing that one; "nocked" is not even a made-up term, and it ought to be fairly clear from context that it means putting a long pointy featherstick on the string in order to forcibly propel it toward a target. It strikes me as being like complaining about the word "stirrup" if one wasn't familiar with horses - the replacement options (saddle foot thingy? dangly boot holder?) just don't work, especially if the narrator/POV is someone who would know and use the term. At some point, the reader has to be willing to step up to the story.

In his book on writing SF/F, Orson Scott Card mentions this kind of thing. He claimed that genre readers tend to be more willing to puzzle unknown terms out from context clues - and that they also could be far more literal with their interpretations of said terms. (He used the example of a "reptile bus" - nongenre readers understood it to be a segmented bus, but everyone in that class who read specfic, including himself, momentarily envisioned a reptilian form of mass transit when they saw those words.)

So I say let the unfamiliar terms fall where they may... just be sure there's a good cushion of context around it to ease the impact. And be sure there's a good reason to use an unfamiliar term, and that you're not just tossing around technobabble and smeerps to sound cool.

Context really, really matters.

However, if a reader hates unfamiliar terms, they're going to hate them regardless of context. The best thing you can do is just accept that they're not your reader and won't enjoy your stuff. You can't make every reader happy, so don't try

I think you have it about right. It's about context.

Barf picked up the flinglebod and then threw it at the craverdill.
Everybody would hate that sentence. Barf picked up something and threw it at something else. There's little here that lets the reader know anything other than this is stuff that they don't know.

It is a balance that the writer must strive to achieve. If you have object or ideas in your story that require new words, then use them, but also put them in a context that allows the reader to visualize what it means.

Barf looked over at the slow moving, smelly herd of carverdill as they moved up the wooden ramp. The herd followed the lead beast into the slaughter house without an inkling of what was to come. Barf hated the stupid, furry animals -- they represented the herd mentality of the entire town.

Roxxsmom said:

I don't know if it's a good idea to take their concerns seriously or to dismiss them as "clearly not my target audience."

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Assuming you use a term in context -- I'd say the latter.

Annoyance goes the other way, too: it irks me when what should be ordinary terms in that setting (frex your use of 'nocked') are not used, but rather some clumsy circumlocution... where the writer just didn't know the right word, or dumbed down due to complaints from readers who've never heard of dictionaries.

Brightdreamer said:

In his book on writing SF/F, Orson Scott Card mentions this kind of thing. He claimed that genre readers tend to be more willing to puzzle unknown terms out from context clues - and that they also could be far more literal with their interpretations of said terms. (He used the example of a "reptile bus" - nongenre readers understood it to be a segmented bus, but everyone in that class who read specfic, including himself, momentarily envisioned a reptilian form of mass transit when they saw those words.)

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Am I the only one who saw a bus full of reptiles?

Roxxsmom said:

Or pretty much any other SF or F novel set in a time and place that isn't the contemporary world.

I've wondered the same thing, but I've encountered proof readers who really, really, really hate it when you use a word they don't know (whether it's a regular, everyday word, a historic term that's appropriate for the setting, or something you made up and presented in context). I had someone who was upset by the use of the word "nocked" in reference to using a bow, which I know I've encountered in plenty of other fantasy novels. I don't know if it's a good idea to take their concerns seriously or to dismiss them as "clearly not my target audience."

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I've found that my tolerance has lessened at least for words that seem to fit a certain pattern (maybe I'm just going crazy, but the "making up crazy new words is an acceptable substitute for good worldbuilding" crowd seem to be drawing their letter combinations from out of the same hat).

So a lot of how I feel about it depends on two things:

• Does the word seem like an actual word, a word that I could imagine having a history of development behind it, or just something that the author made up on the spot because it sounded cool?
• Are the words being handed out with care, however rarely or often, or are they being vomited onto the page?

Brother G said:

So a lot of how I feel about it depends on two things:

• Does the word seem like an actual word, a word that I could imagine having a history of development behind it, or just something that the author made up on the spot because it sounded cool?
• Are the words being handed out with care, however rarely or often, or are they being vomited onto the page?

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Well, there's always calling a rabbit a smeerp thing. Pretty much everyone agrees that's silly. But using words like nock or pauldrons, which are actual real words that are appropriate to a given setting and often used in traditional fantasy.

I mean, "She picked up her bow, nocked an arrow, and let fly."

Even if you've never seen the word "nocked" before, does it take all that much imagination to figure out what it probably means? I'm pretty sure I encountered the word for the first time in a historic or fantasy novel, and figured out what it meant from encountering it in a similar context.

Unfamiliar words == excellent blessing.

Unfamiliar words along with three pages of information that doesn't forward the plot in any way == the most annoying and unnecessary thing I've read.

Let me rephrase that in a let abrasive way. By that I mean make it the stranger the better for me, as long as it doesn't slow down the plot.

Bleck, I'm not good with communication sometimes.

I loved, loved, loved Anatham them by Neil Stephenson. I thought he handled his made-up words well.

Roxxsmom said:

Well, there's always calling a rabbit a smeerp thing. Pretty much everyone agrees that's silly. But using words like nock or pauldrons, which are actual real words that are appropriate to a given setting and often used in traditional fantasy.

I mean, "She picked up her bow, nocked an arrow, and let fly."

Even if you've never seen the word "nocked" before, does it take all that much imagination to figure out what it probably means? I'm pretty sure I encountered the word for the first time in a historic or fantasy novel, and figured out what it meant from encountering it in a similar context.

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/nod.

"Knocked," "brush," "labretifery," they're all fine with me.

But then somebody comes along and throws out some words and I'm like "Um... That... I'm sorry, but that sounds all kinds of wrong." There's a certain style of naming, and I haven't been self-reflective enough to pin down the particulars, that sends bad signals (for me). I'm sure that I've missed out on a couple of good stories that way, but I'm also sure that I've dodged a lot of bad ones too.

ULTRAGOTHA said:

I loved, loved, loved Anatham them by Neil Stephenson. I thought he handled his made-up words well.

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I haven't been able to finish it yet but I feel he did it well, too.

I've read a few SF and fantasy novels where a made-up word became so integrated into my reality that I often forget it isn't a "real" word that can be used around normal people

Roxxsmom said:

I've read a few SF and fantasy novels where a made-up word became so integrated into my reality that I often forget it isn't a "real" word that can be used around normal people

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I can grok that

"Grups" (From the Start Trek episode "Miri") has entered our vocabulary. My wife sometimes has to remember not to use it in general conversation.

I recommend using words in context and only explaining them if necessary.

I'm using a lot of Old English words to describe things in my story. I use "galdorcræft" in the first sentence and state the chapel is a quiet place to muster the concentration needed to perform it. Then two sentences later, I pair it with scrying. Between 'cræft', needing concentration, and 'scrying' I'm hoping it will be clear that galdorcræft is magic. I'm not using the word 'magic' in my story at all because it's told in tight third person from my MC's POV and the word 'magic' doesn't exist in his vocabulary.

Anathem is a book people either love or hate because of the masses and masses of made-up vocabulary. I loved it. When I came up for air from being immersed in his worldbuilding I was in awe of how he'd handled defining those words.

Part of it was that he used words we were familiar with to make many of his new words. An Anathem is a sort of combination of Anathema and Anthem. It's a sung rite of throwing someone out.

Part of it was the Main character is secluded in that world's equivalent of a monastery (a 'Math' where people study science) and so new words used by people outside the Maths, or people in other chapters in the Math, have to be defined for him.

Part of it is because the book is a report of what happened and so the MC is explaining to the people he's reporting to terms that might be unfamiliar to them.

And part of it is just using context very well.

Would there ever need to be a dictionary if the words are to foreign? A Clockwork Orange comes to mind specifically.