What are people's thoughts on hard vocabulary?

[OatMush]

I'm writing a story with a lot boat terminology. I don't know much about boats, but I know a little and I'm researching any words I don't know. The problem is I have no idea if it's reasonable to expect others to know what something like 'starboard beam' means. There's other places I want use more archaic words but ehhhh ... I'm trying to make it clear through context, but I'm not the best writer so I'm worried it will be tiresome for readers if they have to keep googling words or phrases.

What do you think?

 

[DemonOppai]

Ahoy!

 

[Shrimp_eater]

I conject their employement to be unscrupulously jocular

 

[OatMush]

Thankyou for such words of wisdom

 

[Underload]

If you want to portray authentic pirate speak, then go for an Irish accent.

 

[OatMush]

Not pirates, they just travel on boats.... and steal things

 

[HelloHound]

add translations and explanations in notes and stuff or add a clueless audience surrogate to ask the likely questions your readers will be wondering

 

[wimbledon]

I'd say it's fine to use jargon if you're going to reuse the words and you aren't introducing new ones every sentence of every chapter.

 

[OatMush]

add translations and explanations in notes and stuff or add a clueless audience surrogate to ask the likely questions your readers will be wondering

That's the problem though, I don't know what the audience will and won't know, and all the characters live on an archipelago! They have maritime tradition!
But this is probably the most natural way...

 

[Missivist]

I imagine a side character who is an experienced seaman-but-not-a-pirate, and always speaks in a stream and amusing stream of obscure nautical jargon and even-more-obscure cursing. Meanwhile, the main character has to interpret what they say and maybe confirm with a buddy, so that reader learns a bit along with them.

 

[OatMush]

I imagine a side character who is an experienced seaman-but-not-a-pirate, and always speaks in a stream and amusing stream of obscure nautical jargon and even-more-obscure cursing. Meanwhile, the main character has to interpret what they say and maybe confirm with a buddy, so that reader learns a bit along with them.

Hmmmm.... This may well be workable

 

[CarburetorThompson]

I'm writing a story with a lot boat terminology. I don't know much about boats, but I know a little and I'm researching any words I don't know. The problem is I have no idea if it's reasonable to expect others to know what something like 'starboard beam' means. There's other places I want use more archaic words but ehhhh ... I'm trying to make it clear through context, but I'm not the best writer so I'm worried it will be tiresome for readers if they have to keep googling words or phrases.

What do you think?

The thing to do in that situation is use * to add footnotes. My most recent short story used a lot of terms specific to airplane operation specifically for old propeller aircraft. Feel free to take a look at it if you want to see how I used foot notes.

Where Angels Fly; Men Die

War has begun in the United Republic of Vostria. The ethnic Valtriat people fight for their right of succession, spurred on by hate and the ever-increasing tension between them and the Vostrians. Several months into the war a battle breaks out in the town of Belitoskye in its aftermath a...

www.scribblehub.com

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

As long as readers don't have to stop every 30 seconds to look up a term in the dictionary.
They need to be reading the story more than the dictionary.

 

[Seaspecter]

I'm actually in the middle of writing a space opera and decided to use nautical terms. I'm just going to drop this link in at the beginning of the first chapter to help.

Glossary of nautical terms (A–L) - Wikipedia

 

[Placeholder]

Arrr, Matey! The Origins of the Pirate Accent

Ask people to imitate a pirate, and they instinctually adopt the “pirate accent” immortalized in film and television. This unique brogue is renowned for it’s strong “r&#8221…

dialectblog.com

 

[Nexus_English]

That's the problem though, I don't know what the audience will and won't know, and all the characters live on an archipelago! They have maritime tradition!
But this is probably the most natural way...

Explain the words anyway. If they aren't everyday words, explain them. It's better for the audience to already know what the word means than to not know and be forced to google it. And if you yourself have to google an out-of-the-way word, that's usually a good sign that a fair number of readers won't know its meaning.

 

[Daitengu]

Author notes are fine. Personally, as a reader, I'll look shit up if I can't figure out the context anyway. That's just the nature of not being a machine that can memorize a dictionary. I don't go into a science fantasy novel and not expect to be hit with science jargon. The fact that One Piece some how dodged most all sailing vernacular mystifies me at times.

 

[OokamiKasumi]

That's the problem though, I don't know what the audience will and won't know, and all the characters live on an archipelago! They have maritime tradition!
But this is probably the most natural way...

Never assume the Audience is an Idiot.
-- That's a great way to insult your readers.

Also, there is Always that one guy who knows your subject: island living, and sailing, so much better than you do -- even if you happen to be an expert. I can't tell you how many times I've bumped into one or seven.

Add notes at the end of the chapter, or in the author's note section -- at the Bottom, Never the Top! This gives your less-than-informed readers a chance to become better informed, and allows the so-called experts to just enjoy the story.

Explain the words anyway. If they aren't everyday words, explain them. It's better for the audience to already know what the word means than to not know and be forced to google it. And if you yourself have to google an out-of-the-way word, that's usually a good sign that a fair number of readers won't know its meaning.

What they said -- abso-flogging-lutely.

 

[LilRora]

Personally, I think using those words in dialogue where it's relevant, so for example spoken by sailors, is almost necessary, largely for immersion reasons. Using them in narration is a different matter, and you have a lot more freedom there. Both options have pros and cons, but I'd say using them is better so long as you explain them, as ppl said above.

It's also a very useful thing to briefly outline what you're talking about or add some small details that will roughly explain what it's about even to people who won't look at the notes at the end. For example "on the starboard, where [sth stood/happened/whatever], ...".

 

[Corty]

Boring.

But only because, most of the time, it is executed in a boring way. I hate reading about terminologies I don't really care about. Why I don't care about them? Because the author didn't introduce me to it gradually.

I once read a CN novel that I won't be able to recall now. It had its world’s magic work off real-life theoretical physics laws. Like the quantum state of particles. The more wizards knew about the laws, the more powerful they became. But if their beliefs were shaken up, their heads exploded.

I am a dumbo when it comes to physics and math, but it was written and translated in a way that was fun to read.

So it really depends on the author how it eases us into his world so we don't mind the hard language.