Advice plz...

[Bronn]

This may end up in the Tinderbox but I hope not. PhillyB's recent threads about his own writing have inspired me to ask this question here. I'm sure the Huddle won't dissappoint.

So, I've been working on a fantasy novel series for a while now, and one thing I have come across that I am trying to get past is that I need to give a name to a race of people within the fantasy world that sounds the least divisive as possible.

Granted, this fantasy world has roots in medieval society, so there would likely and already do exist some divisive sorts of societal groupings. However, there is one thing that I've had second thoughts about recently as far as the name I have chosen to give this one race of people.

Basically, your only tidbits I will offer of this race is that they lack skin pigment and they are much like our concept of Native Americans, in that they have a tribal, nature based society. They share the realm pretty much equally with the other races that inhabit the world, and are not seen in any hierarchical difference.

So, what would your term for such people be, if you were immersed in such a world, and wanted to be the least offensive or divisive to readers as possible?

I won't say what I have chosen up until this point, but have included it in the poll.

Thanks in advance for the feedback and input!

 

[Bronn]

lol c'mon folks! help plz!

[h0llywood]

Quite frankly, this list is about as PC as they come and was hoping they can be more offensive.

Ghostkin is least offensive given who the hell describes themselves as a ghost.

Clearskin sounds like the covering of female genitalia

Pale Men sounds like a Brewery at the Castro District in San Francisco

 

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

call them tommies

[Bronn]

Just now, h0llywood said:

Quite frankly, this list is about as PC as they come and was hoping they can be more offensive.

Ghostkin is least offensive given who the hell describes themselves as a ghost.

Clearskin sounds like the covering of female genitalia

Pale Men sounds like a Brewery at the Castro District in San Francisco

 

lol it isn't so much what they call themselves, but what they are referred to by others in the realm...

I guess I am more wanting to come off as least offensive as possible in that this may be the coolest race in the world to the reader, and I don't want to fall into the classic fantasy literary trap of having the protagonists as a bunch of white guys...
 

[Hotsauce]

Since when did referring to Asians as Orientals become offensive?

I just found out about this recently. Offended a couple from California. 

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

4 minutes ago, Hotsauce said:

Since when did referring to Asians as Orientals become offensive?

I just found out about this recently. Offended a couple from California. 

was this you

 

[Anybodyhome]

"Cracker" does not offend me. 

[PhillyB]

wait are these supposed to be pejorative terms? if not i would invent a specific origin area for the people and invent a history attached to it, so they're named for it (like our own native americans, african american, asian, etc.) if it is pejorative (eg redskin) then embed yourself in the metal processes and assumptions of your mainstream people group and ask them what they'd call a different-looking group of people who are hierarchically the same. do your people have specific beliefs about human variation? do they care about skin at all? do they have a mythology that would fit as a poetic or literary framework for clear people to exist in? could you naturalize them by inventing one and possibly enrich the universe you're populating?

so: based simply on what you've given, i would use a made-up word and then explain its meaning, and simply avoid the problem of race language parallels entirely. but if you can invent a mythological/literary/teleological framework for your universe, choosing your name as a natural extension of that is going to lend an authenticity to your work.

[pstall]

James Cameron would know the answer.

[Bronn]

36 minutes ago, PhillyB said:

wait are these supposed to be pejorative terms? if not i would invent a specific origin area for the people and invent a history attached to it, so they're named for it (like our own native americans, african american, asian, etc.) if it is pejorative (eg redskin) then embed yourself in the metal processes and assumptions of your mainstream people group and ask them what they'd call a different-looking group of people who are hierarchically the same. do your people have specific beliefs about human variation? do they care about skin at all? do they have a mythology that would fit as a poetic or literary framework for clear people to exist in? could you naturalize them by inventing one and possibly enrich the universe you're populating?

so: based simply on what you've given, i would use a made-up word and then explain its meaning, and simply avoid the problem of race language parallels entirely. but if you can invent a mythological/literary/teleological framework for your universe, choosing your name as a natural extension of that is going to lend an authenticity to your work.

Thanks for this analysis of the situation...

They aren't meant to be pejorative or derogatory in any way, but I don't want the reader to assume as much in the process either.

Without giving away too much detail of the project, I pretty much did what you suggested in seeing the point of view of the characters in the wold, and how they would describe each others' racial differences. There are obvious racial adjectives in some of the names (eg. Horned Men,) but when it came to this one particular race, as I was working on fleshing it out, I got caught up in the fear that some things might be misrepresented or misinterpreted in the actual writing or by the reader. The world itself and a lot of things in it have already been fleshed out. I have just been stumbling a bit when I come to the name I have chosen and start having second thoughts. There is a little bit of irony, though, in that my fears of this race being seen as "cooler" or "more interesting" or whatever and having it linked to the fact that they represent a pigment-less race is that, they are probably culturally more likened, as I stated earlier, to Native Americans or even Central/South American and African tribal cultures. I just hope to be able to convey that without being written off as "oh, they are way cool but too bad you had to water down their skin tone" or some such rubbish as that.

Pretty much, I can liken it to the situation of referring to someone as black vs. calling them an African American in today's USA. I don't want it to be turned into something like that by people that would read and analyze my work. Maybe I am just over thinking it, but I have read a few articles about the already existing racial biases in fantasy tropes, and I want to do my part to differentiate my stuff from that in any area that I can.

Ultimately, I don't want to really reference these people based simply on the color (or lack thereof) of their skin. However, I almost feel that that method would be the most effective given the world and things I've already built to this point.

[The_Light_Brigade]

What about Wanchese? 

Wan means pale and Wanchese was the last known leader of the Roanoke Indian tribe.  

[The_Light_Brigade]

Now that I think about it that's probably not as subtle as you're looking.  

[The_Light_Brigade]

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