I need some help my main character is currently sealed in something that looks like a casket on the outside but it isn't a casket it is something that he was transported in form the future to the past so its a futuristic container but to someone in the mid-evil times would consider a very ornate coffin. Trouble is I am having a hard time describing it without going overboard with the description. Can anyone help me out on this one?
What's the overall impression of the casket - impressive - mechanical, windowed? If it's got lights on it - they might be more distracted by glowing numbers than the fact that it's coffin-shaped. What's the material - wood, fiberglass, steel? Then the medieval people could than mistaken it for something of beauty or rarity - black onyx, pewter, silver. I'd keep the description simple and leave out stuff like 'seemed like'. Don't fumble making the medieval characters guess what the object is -let them relate it to something they know. The coffin vessel/ carriage gleamed like solid silver.
They call these high tech coffins, 'Hibernation Boxes" Though, I believe I heard it call a sarcophagus in one movie.
The important point is from whose POV you are describing the container. If it is the one from the future, then you can describe neon lights, aluminum or whatever ornaments, life suport etc. If it is from someone from the medieval times, then my guess would be something like "an iron coffin the size of a grown man(guessing) with strange candles (if it has lights on)" or something,
Better than living in max-evil times. ------ Through the man's mid-evil eyes it looked like a coffin, but...
no one can help you out on this, because only you know what you want it to look like... and if you can't put it into words, so we know what it looks like how can we help you put it into words?... can you give us a drawing of the thing?... or at least a list of its physical components?
