Capitalization?

Lady Eruwaedhiel · **Posted:** January 31st, 2011, 8:06 pm

I have been having problems with proper names and such lately. Some writers I know, such as Wayne Thomas Batson, capitalize the name of every other-worldly creature or race or location. Others, like Donita K Paul, leave out the proper names. It's the difference between Emerlindians and emerlindians, between elves and Elves.

I can't decide which way to go. What do you do?

BushMaid · **Posted:** January 31st, 2011, 8:10 pm

Hm... personally if it was a well known race like elves, I would leave it lowercase. However, if most of the races in your novel are ones you've created, I would capitalize those. I don't know if that helps you any.

Lady Eruwaedhiel · **Posted:** January 31st, 2011, 8:12 pm

I thought about doing that, but I don't want it to be uneven.

BushMaid · **Posted:** January 31st, 2011, 8:15 pm

That poses a problem... * ponders *

Well, looking around our world, we capitalize Chinese or Australian, so I guess capitalizing all races would be fine.

Lady Eruwaedhiel · **Posted:** January 31st, 2011, 8:22 pm

Right, but we don't capitalize the word human every time.

BushMaid · **Posted:** January 31st, 2011, 8:35 pm

Ahh... *frowns to self*

You could... change the race name so that it differs from it's nationality. For example, the Elven, but when referring to one, call them an elf. Sorry, I'm not much help here.

Aragorn · **Joined:** September 23rd, 2010, 3:42 pm **Posts:** 9085

In general:

I always capitalize the names of places.

I usually capitalize the names of races. If it is something generic like elf (or, in an anthropomorphic fantasy, mouse), I might not, unless there is only one elf kingdom, in which case I might. If the name of the race is based on the name of a kingdom, then I would capitalize it.

I rarely capitalize the names of creatures. They are just normal for their world, like a squirrel is to us, so I see no reason to capitalize their names, with the exception of very special creatures (like Airianna's Diegose).

Melody Kondrael · **Joined:** March 27th, 2010, 2:47 pm **Posts:** 921

See Hero, Second Class for a proper discussion of Capital Letters. XD

On a more serious note...

I definitely would not capitalize every single occurrence. It gets very tiring to read.

Sometimes it's fitting to capitalize elf when it's referring to the race of Elves, versus 'the elf'. (the elves as a race versus elves as physical beings, if that makes sense.)

Riniel Jasmina · **Posted:** January 31st, 2011, 9:30 pm

If it refers to a place (i.e. Spanish or Roman) capitalize. If it refers to the race (i.e. human or alien) don't. Elven as a language and meaning "of the elves" would be capitalized while elf or elves the actual race would not be. At least, that's what my experience tells me.

Lady Eruwaedhiel · **Posted:** January 31st, 2011, 9:43 pm

That makes sense.

Constable Jaynin Mimetes · **Posted:** January 31st, 2011, 11:41 pm

Another topic I've been getting around to bringing up.

I've read articles where much fun is poked at Fantasy Writer concerning the Overuse of Capital Letters. This is one of my problems with Eragon. :roll:

I think the key lies in the differences between nouns and Proper Nouns. The Name of a Place is different from the location. The name of a Race is different from just a member of it.

I think. Anyway. Is the title of a race a proper noun? A name? Tribes are names, maybe races aren't. So the Western Elves are a proper noun whereas just a generic elf is not.

Capitalization?

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