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yvannairieAdapting idioms and phrasings has a double function, right? Yes, they’re meant to make the characters using them more relatable to the reader because ha! you recognise the thing, but at the same time, they’re also meant to reinforce the sense of otherness because wait, that’s. That’s not the usual thing. It’s different.
And aiming for that “similar, but different” sensation is really valuable for stories that revolve non-human characters because on the other hand, you want your audience feeling empathy for these characters, you want them being able to relate to their experiences, but at the same time? That otherness is often the draw in stories like these. Because if they’re not kind of strange and different and exciting, then why are you using them for the story? Why can’t they just be people?
(Not to mention, a healthy sense of the other helps with suspension of disbelief a lot, and managing the suspension of disbelief is key for science fiction but that’s kind of. Like that’s a big enough topic for its own post and is kinda besides the point in this context.)
So when you’re working with an adapted idiom, you’re doing it to deepen the audiences intellectual engagement with the… let’s just call it the text, broadly, which encompasses everything from story to characterisation to worldbuilding. And this is great for making stuff feel like it fits into that world you’re describing, but.
When you’re writing something that’s supposed to be primarily emotionally engaging, you’re… actually making that harder, because every use of an adapted phrasing reminds your reader of the otherness of these characters. So, while writing this thing, I’ve kinda noticed I’m working on some vague Attention Budget™, where, if I go out of my way to get the language right, to deepen the sense of integration with the text, I’m having a way harder time actually hitting the emotional beats I’m gunning for.
Like, I still use them? Because not using them also has the problem of making this story feel like I’m writing it about Just Some Characters, and not my dumb idiot Wrecker Husbands whom I love very much, but, for example, I tolerate a lot of “wrong” instances of human-specific words I know have alternatives because they just feel more right to me, and this Fuckening Thing That I’m Writing really lives and dies on the tone of it and I dare not fuck with the tone now when I’ve gotten it down so well.
So, like, yeah, I could come up with some fun adaptation of the phrase "a roll in the hay", but if what I want to communicate is “aw, he wants to fool around but is trying to not come across as too desperate”, communicating “ooh, cool thing I don’t recognise, man these aliens sure are alien” before the audience can even start parsing the intended emotional effect feels like wasted effort at best, counterproductive at worst.
And of course this is super subjective, I bet for a lot of people the intended effect of the way I’m doing it is the opposite, and sometimes, you can work with that “boy these aliens sure are alien” effect to actually deepen the emotional bond (Prime does this really well in places, I’ve written about that before), and if you’ve built up like, a surplus of empathy for the characters, then you can get away with doing it for the flavour way more,
but since this is the first story I’m writing with them, and I am not kidding about This Thing living and dying on the tone, I’m playing it extra safe with the language I’m using, and thus will have to figure out something else cheesy and embarrassing for Wheeljack to say ┐(￣ヮ￣)┌
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Date: 29/12/18 22:41 (UTC)no subject
Date: 10/1/19 17:12 (UTC)