OOC: Draconomicon

[sythyry]

A bit of OOC stuff about the dragon novel. Only in sythyry 'cause it's a poll.

In this irromantic story about dragons, I want to have words for male and female dragons that sound a bit less clinical than "male" and "female". "Dragoness" is fine for female.

I've been using "drake" for "male dragon".

Which is sort of sensible, 'cause that word (a) is sometimes used for a dragon, and (b) is sometimes used for a male (of another species).

[Poll #1060106]

Comments

[waywind.livejournal.com]

You could be radical and call the males "men" and the females "women," regardless of species. You can call it either an artifact of dignity for characters who are people rather than animals, or an artifact of translation-- like the motley steeds in World Tree being all called "horses." Depends on what effect you're going for.

Some friends of mine in chat rooms consistently used "drake" to mean "male dragon," but I can't think of any fantasy or sci-fi books that do so. Most of them just used "dragon" all around.

In the juvenile fantasy "The Talking Parcel," the creatures called fire-drakes are not dragons but ducks. On fire.