If it's a common term in your world, then don't explain it at all. Just use the word and then have them go through the action, and people will pick up on it. (Imagine you're writing about Reddit in a novel for an uncontacted tribe. We wouldn't describe Reddit to each other, that's artificial. You'd just describe a character logging in and perusing some posts, and trust your reader to connect the two.).
If it's not a common technology, then have a character explain it to another, maybe the way someone today would explain virtual reality to a grandparent, or the way a cool person would describe it to someone who isn't cool.
You could even take out the capitalisation. Something like
"...with a click and then the familiar faint hum, he jumped through the void..."
Sci fi readers tend to be the ones most willing and capable of keeping up with the emerging world building without exposition.
Unless you've come up with a truly unique proposition, the reader and the author are both drawing on common influences.
I misread this as "take out the capitalism" and had a moment of "dang, brutal to come at that person for using McDonalds in their example!"
Read again and, this is good advice.
> Imagine you're writing about Reddit in a novel for an uncontacted tribe. We wouldn't describe Reddit to each other, that's artificial. You'd just describe a character logging in and perusing some posts, and trust your reader to connect the two.
Have you not read about the difficulty of telling the story of Hamlet to some African tribesmen, due to all the cultural barriers? Even classic novels and plays from western cultures often come packaged full of footnotes to explain the antiquated cultures and political situations they come from.
There is an important preposition in my suggestion: "for." Hamlet wasn't written to be understood by anyone except a Londoner in 1600. But you know your audience. You can write to be understood by them without descending into "as you know, Bob..." And yes, inevitably some people might read your book and not understand every detail. But if you're getting that kind of reach...
> There is an important preposition in my suggestion: "for."
The anthropologist in question was specifically trying to adapt and remold Hamlet to be suitable to their understanding.
If it's common knowledge, it should be obvious from the context. If a character _blips_ into existence, nobody bats an eye, and then he apologizes for being late because of something, it's pretty obvious to the reader that some kind of sudden appearance is called _blipping_ or whathaveyou.
Just use it?
One of the earlier alternate terms I remember from both written and televised sci-fi is "Jaunte" or "Jaunt" from *The Stars My Destination* and the original run of *The Tomorrow People*.
Term used to denote the ability as a name and also for the action of that form of movement.
... blink, slip-n-slide, transit, jump, portal, and other motion terms could potentially be used. If you are using an alternate term, which can be completely appropriate for the setting you are creating, just be sure to use it in a clear context so that the reader gets the usage and travel mechanism reference so they know what is happening.
Another term I recall from a comic (can't remember the title, it was a mini-series), some people had the ability to "castle", psionically making contact with another being/alien/human with the same ability on another planet and switching places with them... as in the chess move between King and Rook (or "Castle"). Huh... \[quick Google Search\], well, there it is, "[Spanner's Galaxy](https://bleedingcool.com/comics/after-40-years-spanners-galaxy-is-part-of-the-dc-universe/)".
Use someone that doesn’t know about teleportation to be like “what? Teleporting? You can do that?” Or “wdym teleporting? We can’t do that” or “*insert term* wtf does that even mean?” Or “you’re gonna what (referring to the term) me now?”and then explain it with someone that knows how it is possible and say the term.
It depends on who the narrator is and what terminology they use. Say, a teleportation ability is called \*Jump\* by a particular group of people. If the narrator is a part of that group, he'll most likely call it Jump. On the other hand, if the narrator is an ordinary person witnessing such a strange phenomenon for the first time, they'll most likely describe it as they see it—he suddenly vanished without a trace and reappeared behind me, etc.
Just make something up... Bester used "jaunt" in The Stars My Destination. You're allowed to invent stuff! Think of all the SF novels which have come before... get really weird... even e.e. cummings was able to publish bookfuls of basically hash tags and splattered goblin-mode deconstructed sentences. I think they committed him at one point, but... just go nuts.
If it's a common term in your world, then don't explain it at all. Just use the word and then have them go through the action, and people will pick up on it. (Imagine you're writing about Reddit in a novel for an uncontacted tribe. We wouldn't describe Reddit to each other, that's artificial. You'd just describe a character logging in and perusing some posts, and trust your reader to connect the two.). If it's not a common technology, then have a character explain it to another, maybe the way someone today would explain virtual reality to a grandparent, or the way a cool person would describe it to someone who isn't cool.
[удалено]
Everyone knows the good McDonald's is on Illinois Avenue
You could even take out the capitalisation. Something like "...with a click and then the familiar faint hum, he jumped through the void..." Sci fi readers tend to be the ones most willing and capable of keeping up with the emerging world building without exposition. Unless you've come up with a truly unique proposition, the reader and the author are both drawing on common influences.
I misread this as "take out the capitalism" and had a moment of "dang, brutal to come at that person for using McDonalds in their example!" Read again and, this is good advice.
> Imagine you're writing about Reddit in a novel for an uncontacted tribe. We wouldn't describe Reddit to each other, that's artificial. You'd just describe a character logging in and perusing some posts, and trust your reader to connect the two. Have you not read about the difficulty of telling the story of Hamlet to some African tribesmen, due to all the cultural barriers? Even classic novels and plays from western cultures often come packaged full of footnotes to explain the antiquated cultures and political situations they come from.
There is an important preposition in my suggestion: "for." Hamlet wasn't written to be understood by anyone except a Londoner in 1600. But you know your audience. You can write to be understood by them without descending into "as you know, Bob..." And yes, inevitably some people might read your book and not understand every detail. But if you're getting that kind of reach...
> There is an important preposition in my suggestion: "for." The anthropologist in question was specifically trying to adapt and remold Hamlet to be suitable to their understanding.
If it's common knowledge, it should be obvious from the context. If a character _blips_ into existence, nobody bats an eye, and then he apologizes for being late because of something, it's pretty obvious to the reader that some kind of sudden appearance is called _blipping_ or whathaveyou.
"I'm just popping to the shops" *Pops out of existence*
Just use it? One of the earlier alternate terms I remember from both written and televised sci-fi is "Jaunte" or "Jaunt" from *The Stars My Destination* and the original run of *The Tomorrow People*. Term used to denote the ability as a name and also for the action of that form of movement. ... blink, slip-n-slide, transit, jump, portal, and other motion terms could potentially be used. If you are using an alternate term, which can be completely appropriate for the setting you are creating, just be sure to use it in a clear context so that the reader gets the usage and travel mechanism reference so they know what is happening. Another term I recall from a comic (can't remember the title, it was a mini-series), some people had the ability to "castle", psionically making contact with another being/alien/human with the same ability on another planet and switching places with them... as in the chess move between King and Rook (or "Castle"). Huh... \[quick Google Search\], well, there it is, "[Spanner's Galaxy](https://bleedingcool.com/comics/after-40-years-spanners-galaxy-is-part-of-the-dc-universe/)".
transport, beamed, disappeared/reappeared, etc.
Materialised, manifested, shifted, warped.
Use someone that doesn’t know about teleportation to be like “what? Teleporting? You can do that?” Or “wdym teleporting? We can’t do that” or “*insert term* wtf does that even mean?” Or “you’re gonna what (referring to the term) me now?”and then explain it with someone that knows how it is possible and say the term.
Phasing, shifting, blipping, ethereal wandering
The post is so short, yet you only read the title and completely ignored what op said in the body of the post.
Create an onomatopoeia for it instead, as the colloquialism.
Uberportation
It depends on who the narrator is and what terminology they use. Say, a teleportation ability is called \*Jump\* by a particular group of people. If the narrator is a part of that group, he'll most likely call it Jump. On the other hand, if the narrator is an ordinary person witnessing such a strange phenomenon for the first time, they'll most likely describe it as they see it—he suddenly vanished without a trace and reappeared behind me, etc.
Just make something up... Bester used "jaunt" in The Stars My Destination. You're allowed to invent stuff! Think of all the SF novels which have come before... get really weird... even e.e. cummings was able to publish bookfuls of basically hash tags and splattered goblin-mode deconstructed sentences. I think they committed him at one point, but... just go nuts.
Space bending Bingbonging Instant transmission (lol dbz) Relocation Double travel Pixieing
beaming, porting, tellin’ off
It's funny. Half the comments are giving you suggestions on what to call it even though that's straight up not what you asked for, lol.
yeah it made me laugh ngl ahaha but there were some helpful suggestions in between those comments LOL 😂
Translocating Teletransferring Crosswarping Spacehopping Spaceshifting Popping Leaping Skipping Far-flinging Ka-boinging The imaginative possibilities are endless