my story has numerous races, some of which are species that are already established fantasy tropes (elves, dwarves, vampires, orcs, dragons, etc.). i've put my own spin on these races so that they're more original and they make a little more sense biologically–elves live in rainforests and deserts, vampires don't consume JUST blood because they aren't small enough to subsist on it alone, orcs are also based off of oni, dwarves are based on underground animals, etc. however, i kind of have this fear of someone reading my story when it's finished and trashing it because they're not "REAL vampires" or "REAL dragons", so i've slightly altered the ways their names are spelled based on the etymology and more archaic spellings (elf = ælf, dragon = drakón, vampire = vampyrr, and so on and so forth).
now i'm worried this will come across as pretentious. should i leave these races' names as they are, or change them a little to be original and reflect their own languages and the myths that inspired them? thank you! i look forward to hearing advice!
I think you should change them, especially if that is how you prefer it! I mean there is no way to truly know if everyone is gonna like your choice as everyone has different opinions, but if you feel like the change fits better not only for your story but overall then I say go for it! I like the changes personally cause it makes the races feel a little more personal and with the change I can tell you worked hard to put your own little spin on it.
I have definitely read books/stories like yours, where the race is altered slightly and the name is just a different spelling. I've also definitely felt annoyed by that and thought the story would be better if the names of the races matched the way they were better. I've also definitely read books like that and not felt annoyed, so really it's your choice. But if I were you, I would change them into something else. If you did make the name based off of lore and history and myths of those races and worlds that would be even more impressive!
I think you should do the different spelling as well, it seems to put a nice spin on the original races and usually makes them feel more apart of YOUR story and not the typical store with them. But if you did decide to not change the spelling I feel like that’s fine, because not every single book (especially fantasy type) has each race exactly the same. So I personally like the spelling change, but in the end it is entirely up to you.
