The "Non-" Human Problem

A while back, I wrote a post about future projects. Out of them all, I decided upon the one I referred to as "strange blend of sci-fi and fantasy" revolving around pirates. I got into writing the third draft of the first chapter when I made a decision. I didn't want to write another story revolving around human protagonists in a science fantasy world. I wanted something different. And since I've always had a soft spot for canine/lupine characters in fiction, I decided upon that; a world where the dominant species are humanoid lupine creatures called the Okaru.

This gave me much liberation, but also presented multiple problems. I'll do the problems first.



Problem A: They're not human. Obvious, but still a problem. So using human pronouns in a world without humans as a reference is asking for trouble. This extends to terms like "mankind" or "humankind", but also less obvious ones like gender nouns. Using "he" and "she" can't really be avoided if you want to avoid rampant confusion. But unlike a previous experiment with this, using "male" and "female" seems too clinical for what I want to do with this story.

Problem B: Making it both relatable and alien. This compounds and is compounded by the above problem. You need to use some terms because otherwise you risk leaving the reader completely at sea. Conversely, using several terms from the human world can help with translation, but use them too much and the illusion of otherness is broken. Striking the balance between the fantastic and the mundane is something any fantasy or sci-fi writer worth their salt has needed to come to terms with at some point.

Problem C: They're not human, physically. Having these non-humans running around means you need to create something that's not the strictly ape-based bipedal form humans have had for so many millions of years. But the general fiction-reading public is still having a hard time grasping the wilder aspects of the non-human. As proved in Star Trek, Star Wars, Avatar, and virtually every other popular sci-fi story, humanoid characters not only provide easy roles for human actors, but allow viewers to empathise. Some stories such as Solaris and The Uplift War break this mould, but have human or humanoid characters to balance that out. My aim with this story was to create characters who couldn't be played by people in suits and masks.


And now for this story's liberations!


Liberation A: Gender noun freedom. Yes, I earlier cited this as a problem. But it also liberates me from the restrictive letter box style of the English language when it comes to gender. It very much limits based on sight and sound of voice. Someone can changed from he to she or she to he, but what about those who don't identify as either? There are terms for such people in languages other than English, but they haven't actually carried over. Dropping human gender nouns allowed me to substitute them with versions that sound alien, but are based on an existing language other than English. This also provided me with a word that covered people who didn't identify as either. For these people, as suggested by my sister, I used the terms "them" and "they". There is also a better understanding an tribal-style acceptance of these people within Okaru society.

Liberation B: Characters with more potential. As its a non-human society, the world of the Okaru is in some ways less restrictive than our human world. While it has a real-world base (the late 16th to early 17th century period known as the Golden Age of Piracy, where following the Seven Years War, Britain had become the dominant naval world in the world) it needn't follow real-world history too closely. This means it can use an established structure for characters to grow in or rebel against without too many of the usual restrictions. Just so long as it doesn't resort to the get-out of pulling stuff out of thin air. For instance, my lead is a pirate on a mission independent from the usual pirate fraternity, while her antagonist is a military leader determined to wipe out piracy.

Liberation C: Commentary opportunities. Something about the Okaru is that they are distinguished by their fur rather than the human equivalent of skin and hair colour. This offers opportunities to use the Okaru equivalent of ethnicities while also creating striking images for the main characters that the reader can hold in their minds. This gives opportunities for commentary in aspects such as stereotyping and even racism in a context safer than using actual humans. Still hot topics, but with a slight buffer zone allowing them to be an introduction for younger readers.


That's really all I'm prepared to say about my new project for the moment. I hope it can be read someday. And I hope you enjoyed reading about it.