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 |  This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC |
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This will be a blog for my writing, maybe with (too much) personal thrown in. I am hoping it will be a little more interactive, with me answering questions, helping out and whatnot. If it falls this year (2024), then I may stop the whole blogging thing, but that's all a "wait and see" scenario. An index of topics can be found here: "Writing Blog No.2 Index"  Feel free to comment and interact. |
| Naming Characters I was asked this question the other day by someone who recently finished one of my books. Apparently she felt the names I chose suited the characters. So… how do I choose the names of characters? Okay, ignoring alternate world/ reality fantasy, when I start a story, I use the following names: FXX, FYY, FZZ for women and MXX, MYY, MZZ for men. This is for main characters only. Minor characters get given names that just “feel right”… but the “search and replace” function in MS Word means I can easily change those names later on if one doesn’t seem right any longer as the story progresses. So, the more major characters. I have four methods of choosing their names: - I use the meaning of the name and relate it to a dominant trait of the character; - they remind me of someone I know in real life; - they remind me of a character from a film or TV show (not book); &/or - I use the inverse of any of these. And that is first names. When it comes to surnames which I tend not to place too great an emphasis on (and that is just a personal thing; some of my novels have characters without a single surname between them!), there are only two methods I use: - the meaning of the surname and cultural background; &/or - a name that just sounds good in conjunction with the first name. But, again, surnames are not the biggest thing I worry about. So… fantasy. The names all mean something. All of them. I take Latin, Greek, Italian, Germanic, Norse, Celtic, Old English, French, or (lately) ancient Egyptian words and turn them into names. In the world most of my fantasy is set in, there are certain name endings based on the part of the world the people would come from. In other cases, I make decisions on endings based on the language I use most of all to create the names. I also collated a list of the names of deities from cultures. Some readers may be aware that I have spent over a decade writing a book about the monsters of myth, legend and folklore. Well, in high school, I spent 6 years doing the same thing with deities. But I gave that up because of “reasons”; the monsters thing now has taken over. Anywho, I still have that list of around 3000 gods, goddesses and androgynous beings, plus their spheres of influence and their culture, including an index. And all this hand-written… I was such a weirdo. Anyway, I will sometimes choose the name of a deity that suits the character’s personality or job or something, change it a little (sometimes, but especially if Greek, Roman, Norse or Egyptian) and use that. I find that names are important for my characters. However, I also keep tabs of the names I use. I have a spreadsheet of every single name I have used in a completed story, and how many times I have used them – male, female and surname. This way I can make sure I don’t use the same names too often. This hasn’t stopped me overusing some names, but I try not to. When it comes to fantasy names, I also keep tabs of where those names come from to ensure I do not overuse the base word too often. Some writers feel little about names, and that is fine. I’m not saying every name should mean something or be a character hint or have deeper meaning. What I am saying is this is how I do it. Oh, and where do I find the meanings? When we had kids, we got a baby book, one which was organised in two ways – meaning and name. It’s that simple. |
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