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- May 8, 2018
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Hello,
So I have a question:
I have different races in my novel. It is 3rd person limited. Some races are very primitive, and I want to say oh this tree is so many feet in the air, but they wouldn't know feet. Some ancient peoples had units based on the position of the sun/length of shadows or based on body parts. Ironically that's how we got the unit feet. However, making up some kind of measurement system for an ancient people that's based on a realistic culture, would be very hard to convey to the reader.
I have a Japanese based society in my novel. I have a scene where a group of samurai are chasing a group of oni through a mountain pass. The samurai leader doesn't like the fact that their armor is all red, to camouflage in with the oni as anyone can see them coming "miles" away. Yet miles in more of a modern English term. I was doing some basic research into measurements in this time period. The correct term for Edo Japan would be a Ri, (which is just the chinese Li, half a km) However if I used that terminology a reader might not know.
And the same problem as earlier, I want to say the oni are 12ft tall, as an American readership will understand ft, but it would make less sense from a more realistic perspective.
So I have a question:
I have different races in my novel. It is 3rd person limited. Some races are very primitive, and I want to say oh this tree is so many feet in the air, but they wouldn't know feet. Some ancient peoples had units based on the position of the sun/length of shadows or based on body parts. Ironically that's how we got the unit feet. However, making up some kind of measurement system for an ancient people that's based on a realistic culture, would be very hard to convey to the reader.
I have a Japanese based society in my novel. I have a scene where a group of samurai are chasing a group of oni through a mountain pass. The samurai leader doesn't like the fact that their armor is all red, to camouflage in with the oni as anyone can see them coming "miles" away. Yet miles in more of a modern English term. I was doing some basic research into measurements in this time period. The correct term for Edo Japan would be a Ri, (which is just the chinese Li, half a km) However if I used that terminology a reader might not know.
And the same problem as earlier, I want to say the oni are 12ft tall, as an American readership will understand ft, but it would make less sense from a more realistic perspective.
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