Respondents: 6 (This poll is closed)
There are a lot of book series that use demon to mean something other than ‘pure evil’.
[name]Jonathan[/name] Stroud’s amazing books for one.
And [name]Philip[/name] Pulman’s series as well (though his motives were slightly different, lol).
If you explain it I don’t think it’s a problem, especially if historically you’re on track with what you’re describing.
I guess [name]Spirit[/name] would be the best choice after demon since nightmare isn’t a being, and ghost/specter/phantom is a completely different sort of being than a demon, same with genie which is, in literary history, a completely different being than a demon.
I’ve never heard the term Shaitan.
I hadn’t either, until I looked up words relating to “demon” (lol). I’ll look into the history of demons–thanks for that tip. It just seems to me like something that would turn people off. (Heavens knows I’d never pick up a book called Fighting Demons and now I’m writing one!) I thought of “monster,” but passed along that one for the same reason I want to avoid demon or nightmare–it sounds too evil.
Thanks for your opinion!
Being a writer myself, I prefer that when you create something, you give it a made up name if it doesn’t fit into a category. Kind of like in Dr. Who, how they all the creatures have different names.
Shaitan is an Islamic term for an evil genie, or for the devil. I’d advise against it because if I’m not mistaken there are some religious and cultural significances there that might offend people if it was used incorrectly.
I wouldn’t say a nightmare is something that’s pure, unadulterated evil. Actually I think nightmares can be very complex and individual since nobody ever has exactly the same nightmare as someone else, so it could work with your “demons” and how you describe them as deep and complex. Fighting Nightmares is also pretty catchy. I was going to suggest terrors, as nightmares are similar to night terrors, but if the book is called Fighting Terrors I feel like it’s too close to terrorism. Maybe horrors?
To catloverd:
I understand your point, but these are the things that lurk in the shadows of our world. We’ve already given names to them, and I just need to pick a name to use–Quetzalcoatl, Thunderbird, [name]Phoenix[/name], Unicorn, Beelzebub. I’ll probably use a made-up name as only a last resort.
To greyer:
I didn’t love Shaitan in the first place. [name]Even[/name] more reason to avoid it.
Fighting Nightmares is pretty catchy, but I’m not feeling it.
I agree that Terrors is too close to terrorism. That would hit too close to home for many people. I’m not sure about horrors either, although I might just be acting stubborn…
Thanks to both of you for helping!
Yeah, I understand when it’s not quite perfect. I’m really picky/stubborn myself. I like horrors best I guess. I too feel there should be something better… no idea what though. Sorry! I’ll think on it.