20 August 2002

Hey, I have actual work to do at work today! Exciting!

Okay, maybe not. But at least it won't be quite as boring as not having anything to do. And certainly, if I have work to do then it's less likely that I'll get randomly laid off.

I made some good progress on the novel yesterday, though, while I didn't have any work to do - another 3500 words, and I finally got to the scene with the elves that I've been trying to get to for a couple of weeks now.

One of the things that bugs me about AD&D elves - and most other fantasy elves, for that matter - is that they aren't really different. They're just like another culture of humans. Sometimes they live in trees; sometimes they live in architecturally fantastic cities; sometimes they're short; sometimes they're tall; sometimes they're very sophisticated; sometimes very primitive. Sometimes they're a little strange because their lives are so long. But in general they act and react very much like humans. They have very human motivations.

I wanted our elves to be different. Alien. There are no half-elves on this world, because humans and elves are different species. They can't interbreed, and anyone who wanted to would probably be socially ostracised by both communities.

One of the things I've done is make them so androgynous that humans cannot differentiate genders. Which means that I have to avoid using gendered pronouns with my elf characters. And because calling them "it" seems a little rude... Let me tell you, there are a lot of really neat tricks you can use to avoid using pronouns at all.

But then, another thing I've done is a cultural quirk: They won't give their names to a non-elf. I have an elaborate cultural motivation and reasoning for it... But combined with the lack of desire to use pronouns, it makes writing them a heck of a challenge. I'm glad I'll only have to deal with the whole group of them for a couple of chapters.

On the other hand, it also gives my writing a strange tone that highlights their alien-ness, so that's good.

Now, if I can just figure out what their (non-human) motivation is to join in this war...

--Liz