[Meme] Names names they are all the same~
How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you’re writing about fictional places)?
Creating characters are fairly easy for me. When characters pop into my head, they’ll have one of two tags attached: Throwaway and Keepers. Throwaway characters are those who appear for the first time and then disappear. Keepers tend to require a bit more thinking and are generally the only characters that I do research for, but even then it tends to be quite shallow research such as name, appearance and a culture.
Most of the names I make up for my characters are throwaway names. Generally when a character pops into my head, I already have an idea of what they look like, what they would answer to, and perhaps most importantly, what are their motivations. For characters like bratty Rosselius, they usually manifest as these shadowy beings for a few days before they decide to stay or go. This is especially prevalent when I’m playing around with scenarios in my head. Which means during Nanowrimo, there’s a higher chance of these beings appearing and disappearing. It’s now quite rare for me to get a character that isn’t already named with a personality or a function.
It’s writing place names that usually drive me insane. Places like Jiat and Zhamato made me research and create the backstory for those places even if they were supposed to be described in only one sentence. These places usually hold some sort of special significance for my characters, and the names chosen need to reflect that. Sometimes it comes easy, sometimes it doesn’t. Most times it just drives me crazy.
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Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.