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Feb. 1st, 2009
Earlier today I posted a poll on the subject of the word "mana" and whether it was a real world word or a made-up word, and where it had come from. This is because I'd seen something on my flist which gave me reason for thought on whether what I'm writing is what someone else is reading. [*] Someone on one of the sf/f writing groups asked about using the word, and whether it would feel too much like a reference to a particular role-playing card game. This surprised me, because while I can see that it's a logical choice of word to use to describe a points-based magic system in a game, it's not the first, second, or even any association the word would trip for me.
The comments got even more interesting. At least one person assumed it was a mis-spelling of the Biblical word "manna". I can see that -- it's the sort of thing you might well assume if you'd not encountered the word before, although I was mildly surprised that someone on an sf-writing group would be completely unfamiliar with the word.
Then I stumbled into the comments by people who thought that mana was a word that had been made up by RPG designers, and may well have thought that it was made up by the designers of one particular RPG. At which point my brain broke, because mana is a) a real word, describing a real world concept, and b) was popularised in science fiction and fantasy writing at least as far back as Larry Niven's "The Magic Goes Away" series in the 70s. Niven's use isn't absolutely identical with the Polynesian concept of mana, but it's a thoughtful take on some of the implications of the concept. Like![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sweh, I first encountered it in "What good is a glass dagger?" in the anthology "The Flight of the Horse", probably around 1980 in my case. Given my taste for reading mythology collections when I was a small child, I probably encountered the concept a lot earlier than that, and in its original form, but "Glass Dagger" is the first place I specifically remember it.
My reaction to this was twofold. a) My god, I'm getting old, the youngsters don't know this stuff any more, b) er, does *my* generation know it, or am I an outlier?
This matters to me as a writer. This is the sort of stuff I pick up and use, either in deliberate homage to previous writers, or to ground my work in the real world, to give it the associations and layers that add depth to a story. But it doesn't *work* if half my audience reads the word "mana" and thinks I'm ripping off an RPG. I can deal with an audience simply not noticing the layers because they've never heard the word before, but I'd really rather not be giving them the impression that I'm simply ripping stuff wholesale from someone else's copyrighted work because I can't be bothered to make up my own vocabulary. I can write fanfic for that, thank you, and be open about nicking someone else's toys because they are so shiny. Or write an open pastiche. (Let's discuss the origins and spread of the word "ansible", shall we?)
And now I'm wondering what else I've taken for granted as being transparent to my intended audience, when it's just not so...
[* No, this is not a veiled reference to one of the current LJ flamewars, even if the damn thing has just turned up in the thread I'm referencing. Do not bring that here, please.]
The comments got even more interesting. At least one person assumed it was a mis-spelling of the Biblical word "manna". I can see that -- it's the sort of thing you might well assume if you'd not encountered the word before, although I was mildly surprised that someone on an sf-writing group would be completely unfamiliar with the word.
Then I stumbled into the comments by people who thought that mana was a word that had been made up by RPG designers, and may well have thought that it was made up by the designers of one particular RPG. At which point my brain broke, because mana is a) a real word, describing a real world concept, and b) was popularised in science fiction and fantasy writing at least as far back as Larry Niven's "The Magic Goes Away" series in the 70s. Niven's use isn't absolutely identical with the Polynesian concept of mana, but it's a thoughtful take on some of the implications of the concept. Like
sweh, I first encountered it in "What good is a glass dagger?" in the anthology "The Flight of the Horse", probably around 1980 in my case. Given my taste for reading mythology collections when I was a small child, I probably encountered the concept a lot earlier than that, and in its original form, but "Glass Dagger" is the first place I specifically remember it.My reaction to this was twofold. a) My god, I'm getting old, the youngsters don't know this stuff any more, b) er, does *my* generation know it, or am I an outlier?
This matters to me as a writer. This is the sort of stuff I pick up and use, either in deliberate homage to previous writers, or to ground my work in the real world, to give it the associations and layers that add depth to a story. But it doesn't *work* if half my audience reads the word "mana" and thinks I'm ripping off an RPG. I can deal with an audience simply not noticing the layers because they've never heard the word before, but I'd really rather not be giving them the impression that I'm simply ripping stuff wholesale from someone else's copyrighted work because I can't be bothered to make up my own vocabulary. I can write fanfic for that, thank you, and be open about nicking someone else's toys because they are so shiny. Or write an open pastiche. (Let's discuss the origins and spread of the word "ansible", shall we?)
And now I'm wondering what else I've taken for granted as being transparent to my intended audience, when it's just not so...
[* No, this is not a veiled reference to one of the current LJ flamewars, even if the damn thing has just turned up in the thread I'm referencing. Do not bring that here, please.]