From: A_Tina_Hall@kruemel.org   
      
    wrote:   
   > A. Tina Hall  wrote:   
      
   >>> Racciman's World is hard enough with a "don't use" list that   
   >>> includes: year, month, week, hour, minute, second, mile, ghost, and   
   >>> cat.  There may be more that I've forgotten.   
   >>   
   >> That reminds me. I really don't like using hours or minutes or   
   >> seconds on not Earth worlds. Couldn't come up with a replacement   
   >> though, except moment or eyeblink for second. If you have something   
   >> for 'hour', tell me!   
      
   > I end up using heartbeats a lot, instead of seconds.  But hours are   
   > tough to do without.  Mostly I either get very vague and go for "a   
   > while", "a short while" or "a long while" or I use times of the day   
   > as reference points, so "later that afternoon," etc.   
      
   That can work in a lot of places, I guess.   
      
   Not so much when something definite is needed, like "Growing wings   
   during the last term of their childhood wasn't exactly pleasant, either,   
   with the bones growing, changing, and rearranging themselves. But it   
   took five years, not five hours." (Saying that this time it takes 5   
   hours. Not instant like in some silly movie, but still far too fast.)   
      
   > They also have their own system, which involves "bells" which are   
   > longer than hours, but in that general vicinity.  I use those when I   
   > don't think it will be confusing, but I don't want to have to teach   
   > the reader a whole new time-keeping system -- it's just not that   
   > important.   
      
   Yeah.   
      
   >> I don't mind year if the world has an orbit around a star,   
      
   > Racciman's World doesn't.   
      
   Oh, that's interesting.   
      
   >> month is easily replaced with moon if there is one.   
      
   > There's a moon, but it's perpetually in "new moon" phase.   
   > I have to watch for that one, too: no moonlight, only starlight.  The   
   > starlight is very bright, but still, it's one of those things that's   
   > hard to keep in mind sometimes.   
      
   I'm ever more curious about that world. :)   
      
   >> Or just a different length   
   >> than normal month, same for weeks. More difficult is a distinction   
   >> between day(time) and day (24h - or however many hours there are).   
      
   > English speakers are used to those not being differentiated without   
   > extra wordage, so for me that one's no different no matter which   
   > world I'm writing.  :)   
      
   I try to be subtle with that, one characters says X takes 2 weeks,   
   another says the same thing takes 10 days, and they're both right. Not   
   sure if that works or a reader would think I got confused. :)   
      
   >> Ghost isn't either. My worlds don't have ghosts.   
      
   > I keep wanting to use it in figurative language.  "Like a ghost",   
   > "ghostly", etc.  I have to catch those bits and choose some other   
   > wording.   
      
   Oh! I guess I don't have that problem, or am completely oblivious to it.   
   :)   
      
   >> Did it stand out in the S&E? :)   
      
   > I don't remember tripping over it.   
      
   > ...I guess that means you must have done a pretty good job.  :)   
      
   Nice!   
      
   --   
   "Could we pretend for a moment that I'm not a sick bastard?"   
                          -- Thalos, Magic Earth II: Without Heart   
   Excerpts at:    
      
      
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