Moss trolls and smeerps and pants, oh my

[stillsostrange]

So I've been joking for years about Isyllt Sue's fondness for leather, and how she wants to dress like she's on the cover of a paranormal romance. (She especially likes Marjorie Liu's Hunter Kiss covers, although she finds the sword impractical.) I've spent years trying to convince her to wear more practical--not to mention plausible--clothes*, and she's finally sat me down and explained the issue in small words that my feeble writer brain can comprehend.

Leather is made of dead animals, you see. And as such is affected by her magic, unlike silk or wool or cotton. So if I give her a long leather coat, the chances of Spawn-like special effects increase dramatically.

Who am I to argue with that?

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I have a squid dilemma. Since the primary language in this book is pseudoGrecoLatinate, I have access to a lot of words I wouldn't want to use in, say, an unNorse novel. But typing calamari bugs me. What do you think, readers? Would seeing calamari in a second-world fantasy bug you overmuch? Would it be better or worse if I used an obviously similar word? I saw "calamar-fish" in Green yesterday, and was rather taken with it.

Thoughts?



*I talk about conversations with my characters, but it's shorthand. I do not actually externalize them that much. They're definitely not entirely controlled by my conscious mind, but I couldn't role-play them, or do one of those weird character interviews. And since sound is pretty far down on my sense-awareness when I write, I don't "hear" their voices at all.

Comments

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia isn't always right. To get filament silk, you need to kill the worm. But there's a less-expensive kind, called spun silk, that uses the broken cocoons. It's much easier to embroider with, and it gives a different effect from the filament silk.