McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Redefining Established Paranomal Beings
comprex:
As I am of none of the heritages above, can I hold all three in contempt as superstitions derived from western insecurities ? ;D
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Darwinist on October 27, 2009, 08:28:32 PM ---I'm not sure of the proper term here, it's in the same vein as 'cacophony'. The sounding of the two words together LOOP GAR-OO sounded out, sounds childish and like babble-speak. It's hard to put faith behind the word, to really fear it. There isn't enough harshness to the sound of the word like the other two.
--- End quote ---
The p is silent, French being a language in which terminal consonants are nigh-always silent.
I think lou'-garou has a kind of wind-in-branches menace like the word Cthulhu, myself.
--- Quote --- Try it sometime, mention all three words to a random lay person and see which one they prefer and which one they find disjointed to the genre. There is no hard sound in the word, so it does not agitate the reader into picking up on it, fearing it, symbolizing it. It just sounds goofy.
--- End quote ---
That is the sort of reaction that does sound parochial and monoglot to me, i'm afraid.
--- Quote ---They are established terms I've heard of, understand, and can visualize.
--- End quote ---
There is a sample bias going on here in what you are familiar with, then.
Assuming that Jim, or any of his other readers, will have the same sample bias and therefore the same reactions and prejudices with response to this word is totally unwarranted.
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: sarafina on October 27, 2009, 10:53:52 PM ---I don't like 'lycanthrope', to me it's too unwieldy with too many hard (as in rocklike, not difficult) sounds. Also, I may have read to many LKH books. Loup-garou flows, like one could break into a yodel down the road:
"When I'm calling you-ooo-ooo-ooo'
Dooby-dooby-doo, with my loup-garou..."
But 'lycan' was referenced by Castle last night FTW.
--- End quote ---
"Relp, Raggy, it's a roogaroo !"
Noey:
Considering how many variants on shapeshifter that JB has included, it seems reasonable to me that he'd go with synonyms to classify the different types. Loup garou is another synonym, and actually is one of my favorites because it rolls off the tongue a little like the sound of a howl. It's evocative to me, so to each to their own.
As for ghouls, I vote go for it. In White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade, ghouls were actually humans that were kept as servants to vampires. No flesh eating involved, but the association that the reader brought with them helped create a certain dark association. The echoes of cannibalism resonated to me, even if it wasn't present in the text. It sounds like your ghouls have similar traits, in that they don't actually consume flesh, but with the body switching, they kind of do. I personally groove on details like that in fiction. :) Redefining old legends is most of the fun in urban fantasy, I think. Heck, it actually adds to the realism. Having a character say things like, "And I bet Mama told you that stakes work on vampires, too," makes things seem more plausible, because it's like gathering the readers together, and whispering secrets about how things really work. People, in my experience, eat that kind of thing up. Everyone likes being in on how it really goes down, even if they know it's just a book.
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Noey on October 28, 2009, 05:26:48 PM ---Having a character say things like, "And I bet Mama told you that stakes work on vampires, too," makes things seem more plausible, because it's like gathering the readers together, and whispering secrets about how things really work.
--- End quote ---
i'm sure I've read a vampire ranting at a human on a "Well, if someone shoved a sharp piece of wood through your heart it wouldn't do you much good, would it ?" theme, but I can't recall where. (The "look what you did to my good shirt" aside in Anno Dracula is not it, but in the same general theme.)
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version