The Name Game

THE NAME GAME When I communicate at writers conferences or conventions one of the extra common questions that pops up is some variation on, “How do I give you names for my characters?” I’ve always struggled to respond this, and I don’t think I’ve ever given a passable reply. I’ve really helpful utilizing child name books (I have one I use on a regular basis); have suggested individuals to consider their fantasy world as a specific actual-world region or tradition and undertake, say, Scandinavian or Gaelic names; and I’ve even advised randomly sticking your finger in a phone e-book. That’s all fairly crap advise, or fairly good . . . I don’t even know. But two things have actually made me start excited about this once more. First, I even have a current work-in-progress fantasy novel, which I’ve mentioned here, and have sat down and come up with a naming convention that I like, but that also needs tweaks. The second thing is that I’ve been doing this weird project the place I†™ve been studying names of fantasy characters into a pronunciation information and have been confronted with fantasy name after fantasy name. One of the students in my persevering with education class asked me what I thought of a rule he’d heard in connection with writing screenplays: that no two characters should have names that begin with the same first letter. I couldn’t give him a solution since I’d never heard of that rule earlier than, however I just about dismissed it. After all, doesn’t it restrict the number of characters in your guide to no more than twenty-six? Thirteen when you rely last names, too? Then I heard that same recommendation half a dozen instances within the subsequent few weeks. Doesn’t that at all times occur? When I put that thought along with this other project in which a couple of of the books had huge lists of charactersâ€"more than 100 named characters in some circumstancesâ€"which was, in my humble opinion, method too many, it really began t he wheels turning. Maybe that rule has some advantage? I want to say up front that I’ve by no means been a lot for rules, even when there are a couple of I persist withâ€"I actually have to cling to one thingâ€"and with this naming conference stuff, let’s name these “pointers,” which is a rule you’re free to break with out consequence. I don’t tend to put in writing books with dozens of characters, but I reserve the proper to make my cast as huge because it needs to be for me to tell my story. This one character per letter rule coming from the movie business isn’t that odd, on reflection. There, you do need to control the size of your forged. But for a novel, as I’ve said before, the sky’s the restrict. But nonetheless, after I come across guidelines like thisâ€"or pointers like this . . . no matterâ€"I can’t assist however try them on for measurement. What’s the worst that could happen? In my pocket book for the present work-in-progress I began a brand new web page for names and wrote each letter of the alphabet down the left margin, then made three columns: one for names of male characters, one for ladies, and one for locations. I decided that I would solely have one character (both male or feminine) for each letter, and one place name for every letter. I still have an awful lot of work to do, populating this book with a supporting forged, and up to now I still have fourteen letters for character names unassigned, so there’s hope. I’ve started doing some worldbuilding and kinda went off on a place-naming tear, so I’ve labored my means via all however six letters thus far. There’s an opportunity I’ll have to double up on place names. I am not allowing this exercise to limit my story or creativeness. I’ll attempt it, but will throw this guideline/rule within the trash the second one thing that higher serves my story comes along. So then how am I populating these columns? My story (up to nowâ€"lots of work nonetheless to do!) t akes place in a world with two sentient species, humans, and an elder race that I’m calling the lyPirti. I want these two cultures to be distinct so created slightly totally different naming conventions for each. The whole idea is to create names that are unique, that helps this world appear new and contemporary, but that also one way or the other really feel like namesâ€"they have some sort of touchstone again to the actual world. Going again to my very own iffy recommendation on assigning real-world cultures I thought I’d make my human culture based mostly (extraordinarily) loosely on the Balkans. So I went internet surfing and located some names frequent to the Balkans, and pulled out the trusty atlas for my place names. To give it a little bit of a twist, however on the identical time a sure consistency, I then made a little chart in which I swapped vowels, in order that a in the real world name becomes u in mine, and so on. This led to some good things, and some real clunke rs. Easy enough: Toss out the clunkers and keep the great ones. Remember: I am not a slave to my worldbuilding! For the lyPirti I selected French, and brought a translation app to bear on the issue. This is a race of diviners, a remnant of a extra cultured and educated time. I determined that their names ought to have some which means, so I appeared for translations for words like “See Away” for his or her divination magic, swapped vowels again, and came up with viorlion. It feels a bit gimmicky once I explain it like this, and it’s essential to keep in mind that it is a start line, not some type of regulation. I even have crossed out an awful lot of words that have been just weird, totally unpronounceable, or so just like another created word that confusion would have to result. Sometimes I fudged my rule about what vowel goes the place, and altered the occasional consonant to make it sound or read better. And earlier than something went onto the record, I stated it out loud. You actually have to do that. If you cant say it, assume your readers received’t have the ability to either, and nothing frustrates a fantasy reader more than speaking with a good friend about this nice new book when that one man who’s name begins with an X was talking to the barbarian named G-something concerning the dragon whose name was, like, forty letters long and appeared like Sneezingalloverthebuffettable or something like that. â€"Philip Athans (aka Phelep Uthuns) About Philip Athans For what it’s value, I generally leave a character name at only a letter as I’m writing a draft. Once I get a real grasp of who they are, then the name seems easier to generate. In case it’s useful, a hyperlink I have no connection to but find useful for its mixture of etymologies, cultural breakdowns, and classes is Behind the Name. All one of the best with the work in progress, names and all. I would say it’s not so much not having two character’s names start with the same letter as making an attempt to ensure characters don’t have similar sounding names. It’s too simple to confuse a reader if two of your major characters are named Jake and Jack. I had this issue with “The Silmarillion”. Too most of the elves had names that had been too close collectively. I like the first letter rule, however agree, the similar-sounding part is the second key: i.e. Sauron and Sarumanâ€"ARGH! Although that didn’t stop it from being essentially the most beloved fantasy story of a ll time.