Sign In

Close
Forgot your password? No account yet?

Capitalization of fantasy races? by Amber-Aria

Here's a bit of a random topic! While writing up Ahnurthian information for my Patreon-in-progress, it occurred to me that I've always capitalized the words "Ounten" and "Illusuro", yet I've not been inclined to capitalize the words "humans" and "dragons", despite them all being separate races within Ahnurth. Similarly, I've always capitalized the regional subgroup titles for the races (Mantle Ounten, Snowpeak Ounten), the elemental grouping of dragons (Northlanders, Spirelanders, etc.), as well as the individual species/subgroups (Sirens, Oracles, Moramay, Boughbans). I've done this so far simply because it looks nicer to me, but now I realize this is probably not the best way to go about it. I never thought about it much before until now! I've seen variations with and without capitalization, depending on context and such, so I'm curious to hear about this from others.

What do you think are the appropriate "rules" for capitalization of fantasy races and sub-species?
Is there any time where capitalizing these names would be appropriate or no?

Capitalization of fantasy races?

Amber-Aria

Journal Information

Views:
389
Comments:
11
Favorites:
1
Rating:
General

Comments

  • Link

    I would think that races would not be capitalized unless they were based after 'proper' names? Like if a race's name was the same name as their land of origin and not just derived from it. Since the plethora of new names involved in fantasy stories can be one of the easiest places to lose a reader to confusion, I think this distinction helps, because at a glance they know if this is a race or a nationality/region/person.

    • Link

      Yeah, clarity is what has me most concerned, and you think I'd have thought about this earlier, being an English major and all! *laugh* Thank you for your input~

      • Link

        No problem! I am a writer and a world-builder as well so I love this sort of topic :}

  • Link

    (RL Draygone)
    What the above person says. LIke how in real life, black folks are lowercased and African-Americans are uppercased.

  • Link

    Go with what feels culturally 'right' for the world, I'd say.

    • Link

      You think by now I'd know for sure the sort of thing that feels "culturally right" for Ahnurth. *laughs* Thank you for your input~

  • Link

    It more or less depends on the context in the sentence. And Caelan has a really great point as well.

    • Link

      Yeah, I think it'll just be a matter of me remembering context, and going from there. Thank you!

  • Link

    Traditionally in English a species would not be capitalized, but a nationality would be. As stated above, this may have to do with groups of people called for their proper noun homes.

    • Link

      Yeah, that definitely makes sense. I guess right now it's just gonna come down to me breaking a bad habit! Thank you for your input~