3. How do you come up with names for characters
(and for places if you're writing about fictional places)?
For characters I usually rely on a book of baby names, or babynames.com. Sometimes I'll search for a specific meaning and pick the name whose meaning comes closest or sounds the best, or I'll just pick a letter of the alphabet and look up the names with that letter, then choose one. Some names are based on a name from a baby name book, but I'll change the spelling and sound to be something I like more. Mostly I go by the sound of the name. It feels right when it sounds right. I guess that makes sense. Some of my favorite names for characters I've created are Ketlan, Balthazar, Mordecai, Diyara, Zarc (Zarconia), Qadra, Zoey Zurrell, C.C. Montgomery, and Alaine De Rocher.
For places, I decide what kind of kingdom/town/country/etc. its going to be (or be like if I'm losely basing it on a civilization on earth) and then pick a letter and play with sounds until I get a name I like. Sometimes the name comes quickly, sometimes it takes hours or days to put together the right sound of vowels and consinents. My favorite place names I've created (and are under common law copyright of course) are Illishar, Traldon, Valdrondez, Jibah, Tariq, and Zanchin.
And once I've created a character or a kingdom, then I draw a picture of it (or make a pic using a website creator thingy) or make a flag!
Whoa, you've posted three days in a row! This is unprecedented!
ReplyDelete;)
I know, right? I discovered the way to write it now and post it later! SO AwESOME!!
ReplyDelete