Another poll question - Alien Cameras!
Apr. 27th, 2012 11:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
My sister and I are having a bit of a debate. She hates the word "holocam", which sounds, to her, too much like something from Star Trek I rather like it. At least it makes clear that it's a camera, and from the future. But what do you think? Should I change this word? If so, to what?
[Poll #1836699]
[Poll #1836699]
no subject
Date: 2012-04-27 04:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-28 06:41 pm (UTC)I don't like 'electric scribe' or 'memory keeper' as names in English - they sound contrived. But an alien name (like 'ahnkat') which is explained as meaning, say, 'electric scribe', would be good. The question is perhaps whether you want to have a word that your readers won't necessary recognize, and whether you can get your characters to explain their culture without it sounding forced.
Sorry, that was a bit waffly. And just my tuppence worth, of course . . .
no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 02:39 am (UTC)And, btw, would you like me to shoot you an epub file of the latest version?
no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 12:06 pm (UTC)And yes, I'd love a file of the latest version.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 02:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 02:38 am (UTC)I fear that all my minor quibbles are making me sound unreasonable. Holocam is an OK word, as a word. I just don't think the novel has much in common with Star Trek, and the word sounds oddly
Star-Trekky or Star Wars-ish to me. But I think I do agree -- much as I would like some other word (like Ursula Leguin's "ansible"), I don't want to create problems of having to explain what it is. I was thinking that a generic word like "recorder" might work, too. Or, at some point, you talk about the "network." Maybe a word related to that.
Or maybe just "holocam," since everybody else likes it :-D
no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 02:21 pm (UTC)Thanks, as always, for your input and encouragement. :)