Fantasy measurements

[Stormtyeshadowmaker]

Hey everyone! I’m new here and would like some help with my book!
So, I’m currently making a fantasy book about wolves, but I’m not sure what sort of measurements I should use. The scene I was stuck on was when a character was bragging about how they outpaced a hare by a whole _____. I obviously don’t want to use inches, feet and all that sort of stuff because it doesn’t make sense because a wolf wouldn’t know what any of those are. I was thinking of having made up measurements based on their surroundings. The book takes place in what’s basically a made up version of Yellowstone National Park, sharing similar land features. What would I be able to use to measure in that environment?

 

[-K2-]

Welcome to the forum. Just for the record, this question might get better traction in the 'Writing Discussion' area... and I suspect if you click on the report button, the mods might move it for you.

Regarding your question, 'personally,' I'd stick with what applies to a wolf. A 'length,' as in it's own length, roughly 5' without the tail. It's paw 4-5", a fang 1 1/2" and then use time. A day's run, a morning's lope, a shadow's change in length... though discussing time, that translates into distance at such a pace.

K2

 

[Stormtyeshadowmaker]

Welcome to the forum. Just for the record, this question might get better traction in the 'Writing Discussion' area... and I suspect if you click on the report button, the mods might move it for you.

Regarding your question, 'personally,' I'd stick with what applies to a wolf. A 'length,' as in it's own length, roughly 5' without the tail. It's paw 4-5", a fang 1 1/2" and then use time. A day's run, a morning's lope, a shadow's change in length... though discussing time, that translates into distance at such a pace.

K2

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[Culhwch]

Welcome to the boards, and just so you know, I've gone ahead and moved this one to the Writing Discussion. Have a look around - there's plenty of resources in here for aspiring writers. And while you're here, you might like to check out our challenges. There's still time to enter this month's challenges!

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[HareBrain]

I'd echo K2's suggestion. Also, maybe look into how non-metric human measurements came to be arrived at. They were mostly based on body parts or everyday needs, and quite a few of them could be translated to wolf equivalents.

Of course, if they were very advanced wolves, they could invent an entire system based on a calculation (which would then turn out to be wrong) of the distance to the moon, or something.

 

[Abernovo]

I'd echo what's already been suggested, and add use direct description and comparison.

The storm had caused many of the trees to fall. A lot had been young, but this huge, ancient oak, blocked the entire gorge. It was too large to jump, or even scramble over, but it might be possible to squeeze through the branches, between the ground and the trunk.

Terrible example, but hopefully, you can see what is meant. You don't always need exact measurements. Most people can compare old and young trees in their mind, castles, cottages, and hovels. X is average height, but Y is head and shoulders above them -- or is a tail's length away, in your character's case, perhaps.

The other thing you might do, for time, is note freshness of scent (only a short run to catch up), or warmth of the track (warmth affects scent strength -- cold reduces flavour).

Good luck.

 

[picklematrix]

Would 'Leagues' be any use?
Tolkien used leagues, IIRC. Nice old-timey sounding word.

 

[tinkerdan]

I think that it might be valuable to consider the target audience and just what your measurement standard might mean to them and how well they might understand it. Also; consider the importance of that particular passage and whether you are going to go hog wild with more measurement oriented dialogue or if this is just a quick passing one off.
You already are stretching imagination by having dialogue from an animal...maybe you could just stretch it more and use measurements everyone understands. However, now that I think about it, it might be just as easy to use a word such as strides since that might apply here.
Really it all might amount to how well you want your prose to flow; rather than how clever you are to count in paws and pawses.

 

[-K2-]

The other thing you might do, for time, is note freshness of scent (only a short run to catch up), or warmth of the track (warmth affects scent strength -- cold reduces flavour).

That is actually more correct in how a wolf 'sees' its world in their inner mind... Superpowers schmuper powers...

Dogs have been proven to be able with a quick sniff of the air; to track a person who passed by in a car-- at sixty-miles/hr.-- with the windows and vents closed... THREE days prior. That's why pairs/packs of dogs sniff the same thing. It fixes an actual image-- path-- number-- range-- etc. in their individual minds which is the same (think of two people working toward a common goal) seeing the same picture... scent forms that mental image for canines.

In a sense (and this is the only way I can describe with imagery how a canine might think/see things)... Imagine they sniff the air, this bush, this trail, and shift side to side 20'. From that little bit of checking scent, they can see in their mind's eye:
1. Everything immediately near them.
2. What is within 1-2 miles (actually more) in a massive cone from upwind.
3. What is a rather exact range to items 1&2, and a precise distance by checking how the scent fades as they move.
4. What filled that area an hour ago, 12 hours ago, yesterday, a week ago (as though able to see into the past).
5. From where they stand, the route other animals took laid out before them
6. They are able to envision how something at a distance out of sight is moving.
7. Etc.

It really is almost like being able to see things well out of visual range, into the past and so on like reviewing some sort of surveillance film from the past week from scent alone. And really, so much more.

That doesn't apply to the 'rabbit race' scenario... but, it might affect so many other ways of presenting other means of communicating.

K2

P.S.: That also applies to sound (to a much lesser degree). Animals with ears on top of their heads that can pivot their ears are able to establish range and direction just like eyes placed in front. So, in this order... Nose, ears, eyes, wolves have a much clearer picture of the world than humans. Their sense of smell estimated to be 100x greater... Bears on the other hand is estimated to be 2,100x better.

 

[Overread]

Just a few thoughts:

1) Sometimes you don't have to use measurements when talking. You can do most casual conversations by bragging without specific measurements, even if you use a form of measurement within the comment.
Eg "I beat that runner by a mile" doesn't have to mean an actual measured mile. In fact in a boast its simply a big "value" to brag about. So the wolf could "beat that hare by a whole sprucetree". We don't need to know the tree's length nor size its just a boast. Or you can vary it to a non-measurement based boast. "I was so fast I was home and dry before the hare was even half way!"

Of course for a boast it might be the "Kessel run in lets than 12 parsecs" which works well because whilst we've no idea what any of those things are, the reaction of the other characters gave us an idea. Furthermore none of the information in the boast was ever required to know of again. How long a parsec was didn't matter because it never comes up again.

2) If the story calls for specific measurements in a setting which has no standard measurements that we'd use today you've got a few options:
a) Use the narrators voice to give the distances. Provided that the narrator is not a character from the story you can use something like a mile or meter there and get away with it. Though I would argue that if it were an older world setting yards and meters would preserve a sense of the era more than meters or kilometres, which fit far more so in a contemporary or futuristic setting. This way you're using a real world term to describe within the story and keeps it easier to follow than throwing a lot of jargon terms at the reader. We do this all the time, often without realising it, though as a writer I'd try to at least (as earlier noted) flavour terms and ideas used to suit the setting as much as possible.

b) Try to relate it in a way that lets the reader know now big that is in real world terms. Otherwise such terms can be meaningless and only confuse the reader. Eg "He walked along the fallen tree, stretching his paws and counting each step, each stride of the foreleg giving him a single wolf-length of the mighty fallen tree." A scene that might have no purpose other than to deliver that information so that later when he claims to have beaten the hare by a a dozen wolf-lengths the reader has some rough grasp of how long that is.
Another method is a glossary of terms, there's no shame in that (heck some great authors have used them to fantastic effect - Terry Pratchett even used footnotes which is something rarely seen outside of scientific journals).


Either way YOU the writer must know the values so that if the information comes up again you can at least retain some sense of internal integrity. The last thing you want is to suggest early on that a wolflength is only a meter and then later have a 5 wolf-length warship appear on the high seas. Because now your reader is confused because its either one tiny warship or the measurement has changed from what it was earlier presented as .

 

[zmunkz]

For small things, maybe body based: bounds and paws.

For large things, maybe landscape based: one ridge, two horizons, three curves of the river, that sort of thing.