help with writing more

[JonCG]

Originally Posted by shamguy4

i wanted to make a universal word for robots
because i just dont like the word robots or the word androids
but i dont think i could or should
even if i make up my own term i would have to explain what it is

Since robot comes from the Czech word robota, meaning menial labour you could always work on a version of that. Servir, from the french for servant, Sclavus, from the latin for slave, etc...

[shamguy4]

i know i could- and i have- already made up names for my robots
i have even made up company names of the peolpe who make the robots

i just didnt want to use the term robot or android to define them
do i have to use the terms? can i make up my own word? is it advisable?
its an already established thing and its not like im creating something from scratch so what can i do?

also if im writing a sci-fi book do i call the weird looking characters aliens? i mean in my world they shouldnt be considered aliens cause they are not foreign weird creatures. they are just as much known and common as the human. so i guess the word alien shouldnt be used?...

thanks for your advice (all these questions are an excuse and are delaying me from continuing my writing which i should get back to )

[Birol]

Originally Posted by shamguy4

do i have to use the terms?

No. You don't have to do anything.

can i make up my own word?

Yes, you can. No one will stop you.

is it advisable?

Depends. Can you make it work?

also if im writing a sci-fi book do i call the weird looking characters aliens? i mean in my world they shouldnt be considered aliens cause they are not foreign weird creatures. they are just as much known and common as the human. so i guess the word alien shouldnt be used?...

What is important is not the terminology you use, but that you bring the reader into your world and make them see and understand it as if they were there, visiting, or even better, a part of it. That is your job as the writer. Part of giving the reader that understanding is word choice. Word choice is as much about what words you don't use as it is about what words you do use. If, in your world, non-humans are not aliens, then they are not aliens, but what are they? How will you make the reader understand how they fit into the world, how the narrator and MC see them, how they are different or similar to any pre-conceptions the reader might have, and what their purpose is in your universe?

[chrispenycate]

The advantage of using terms everybody recognises is that you don't need to describe the object in question; people will already have a fairly clear picture. from other writers. When Asimov was writing robots and positronic brains (or Tolkien elves) they required a lot of words just to explain where they were going; now everyone has a picture. Which can be a good thing, but just as easily not. If I say "robot" there's a whole lot of baggage comes with the word (mind you, if I say "woman" there's a whole lot more, which doesn't prevent me from using the word, or the concept)
If I say "waldo" you've got less preconception, but despite the word beind in general use, I'd probably have to give a few words of explanation. "Homoculus" or "learning-programmed automaton" several more. Cocormad (computer controlled remote manipulative device)? I suspect "robot arm" might go down easier.
"Alien" only means "foreign", and invading people's counties and calling them "foreigners" (or "welsh") Descendents of the original inhabitants of the americas coming into the United States without visas are "illegal aliens" even if they show no resemblence to a Giger painting.

If you invent your own words, you'll have to convince readersif their verisimilitude, but they'll be no R2D2 in the back of their brains, no three laws to erase.

[Interference]

Because robots didn't exist when the word was invented, the things that finally came to be called robots didn't look anything like their fictional counterparts. When robots that look like SF robots are finally invented, they will undoubtedly be generically called 'robots', but equally likely they'll have a trade nam that will go into more common use - like 'hoover', 'telly', 'flicker' and 'asimov'. They'll actually probably end up being called a 'Sony Workman' or something.

In my stories, the first robot is called a robot, but every one after it is called a Jeeves.