Story Culture

Have you ever been somewhere that made you feel out of place?  A place where you don't understand the language or culture?  I tried to capture that feeling of amazement and confusion with the fantasy children's novel I am currently working on.  My character is a tiny human boy (Tom Thumb) who has been separated from his family.  He is staying in a gnome village, and it is very strange to him.  I am working on ways to show the cultural markers such as the type of humor and the odd habit of identifying mood through the sense of smell.  I also have shown the kind of diet and food preparation for the gnomes, their village life, their games and recreation, their work and passions, and talents.  These are ways to show the story culture.

 

  This is a scene that shows how Tom is getting to know the gnome culture.

 

The gnomes were good-natured and had an easy manner with each other. But Tom did not understand their sense of humor. Many times he didn’t realize someone had made a joke until he heard the others laughing. He noticed that gnome humor was seldom directed at someone else. Most often when they made a joke, it was at their own expense. They were both confident and humble. It was so confusing.

He was certainly a curiousity to the gnomes. They were fascinated by both his small size and his human ways. They just couldn’t get over his tiny fingers and toes. They sniffed him, interpreting his moods by the way he smelled. No one apparently thought this was rude. It was a gnomish way of learning about someone. Tom bathed at least once a day hoping they would stop sniffing him. Jon said bathing didn’t make any difference. He still smelled like a human. A human who within one hour was nervous, curious, giddy, offended, disappointed, sad, and proud. It was smelly fascination.