 Fantasy: April 10, 2019 Issue [#9484] |
This week: Another Name Edited by: Robert Waltz  
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There is no greater name for a leader than mother or father. There is no leadership more important than parenthood.
-Sheri L. Dew
Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
-Moses
The real names of our people were destroyed during slavery. The last name of my forefathers was taken from them when they were brought to America and made slaves, and then the name of the slave master was given, which we refuse, we reject that name today and refuse it. I never acknowledge it whatsoever.
-Malcolm X |
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I wrote about names last time, in the context of point of view and translation: "Names"
This time, I'd like to continue some discussion of names in fantasy literature, but this time from the perspective of creating the most memorable character names.
Want your character to be remembered? There is one simple trick to this: Give them more than one name.
This is only realistic. Most people (and pets) are called more than one thing. Whatever your name is, you probably have a nickname. Also, if you have kids, maybe they call you "mom" or "dad." Your spouse either calls you "honey" or "dumbass," depending on circumstances. Your parents probably have a pet name for you as well. And you may have an epithet, or a title.
For example, I am Robert, Overlord of the Multiverse.
Well, maybe not, but it does make me stand out in a crowd of Bobs, Robs, Bobbies, etc.
Think about how many names and epithets Sauron, The Dark Lord, had. Or the various appellations of Voldemort. This isn't limited to villains, either: consider Superman, Kal-El, Clark Kent, the Last Son of Krypton, the Man of Steel, etc.
Only rarely does someone have one name and only one name. Oddly, a plethora of titles doesn't seem to confuse the issue; paradoxically, the multiplicity of names tends to cement the character in a reader's imagination.
When reading fantasy, keep an eye out for when an author uses this multiple-name technique, and when they don't. You may find yourself using it, as well. |
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Last time, in "Names" , I started this discussion of names.
Quick-Quill  : Your NL intrigued me. I wrote a paranormal MS (now re-editing it) I have words for the Majik they possess as well as pet names or their given names. I had one reader tell me to use accepted terminology; magic, sonar, etc and give up using any tag that isn't "English." I see others have done it and maybe I just need to add a dictionary at the back. There are only maybe 10 words used by these people. Is it worth it? I figure most of them are self explanatory. A soama is sent out like sonar and comes back if it finds one of their kind. If the soama finds nothing it doesn't return. I explain it. Do I change the word to sonar? It's close but not quite the same thing. If JR can do it, so can I.
I've seen it done both ways, and you're going to get different advice on this and many other subjects. In my personal opinion, if you only have about 10 words to introduce, and the work is novel-length, you can probably get away with it - especially if they describe things that just don't have English near-equivalents. Rowling managed to do it by mangling Latin, a language we all have some familiarity with whether we know it or not. And Tolkien, as I noted, was a linguist so he knew exactly what he was doing.
⭐Princette♥PengthuluWrites  : ...Honestly, Ostrich is the best name.
I think you may be right.
And that's it for me for April - see you next month! Until then,
DREAM ON!!!
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