forum Should I come up with completely new/made up names for all creatures in my world?

Started October 08, 2020 by @Reblod flag

tune

Here's what I'm doing at the moment:

• If there's a creature I have made up it will have an unfamiliar name to this world
• If it exists in the real world but the name doesn't make sense lore-wise I will customise it
• Horses are still called horses even though they don't really look like actual horses
• Most mythical creatures from this world have new names
• Other common creatures from this world keep their names i.e fox, hare, caribou, seals, etc

Basically, what I'm wondering is if I should just try to maintain a balance between new names and actual names or if I should just go full send and give everything new names?

And should I keep the real names of some creatures like horses to keep a semblance of familiarity and understanding for a reader even though it isn't the exact same as the real thing?

Basically, if I give something like a caribou/reindeer a new name then I'll have to describe it completely but if I keep the name people will already know what it is. I think this is the main issue

I dunno just need some opinions

Unless the renaming adds to the story or lore, I don't think you should do it. You're just adding more made up names into your book, which might make it harder for the reader to remember every name and match it to its real world counterpart. Also, some readers could be misconstrued into thinking the animals are made up and not supposed to have a direct relation to a real animal. By the way, I really like what you're doing with the animals in the story. The idea of a book mentioning a horse and then continuing to describe something that isn't really a horse is very amusing to me.