game of words

[marycatelli]

So we have these figures in the story. . .

Those of us outside the tale would look in and say, "Fairies."  Or possibly "Elves."  My plan, inside the story, is that all the characters say, "Ladies."  Or, sometimes, "Lords," but all the movers and shakers that our hero and heroines (and assorted others) face in the tale that fall in this group are female. But no one calls them anything else.

I decided it halfway through the outline.

Not that that meant I didn't keep on writing about what the fairies did here or there.  I hope I can keep it under better control in the manuscript.

Comments

[metaphorsbwithu.livejournal.com]

I don't see a problem with a third-person narrator referring to them as "fairies" or "eleves" or whatever no matter what they call each other in first person so long as it's clear to the reader.

[marycatelli]

Breaks the fourth wall. If they are "ladies and lords" in the universe, that's what they are. It's like the flaw in The Lord of the Rings where "The dragon passed like an express train, turned a somersault, and burst over Bywater with a deafening explosion."

[metaphorsbwithu.livejournal.com]

Actually, I was commenting while assuming these characters are, in fact, "fairies", but if they are not defined as such in this story it then of course it's no go.

If fairies and elves do not exist in this world then yes, it is just as inappropriate as using the term "express train" in LOTR or describing an "earthquake" on Krypton.

[marycatelli]

It's that the term for them, in this world, is "ladies" or "lords" as appropriate.