30 Days of Writing Meme - Day 3
3. How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you're writing about fictional places)?
I hate names. No, let me say that for you again. I. HATE. Names.
See, someone impressed on me from a young age the importance of names (I'm looking at you Tolkien and Lewis), which was further emphasized on my journey back into story telling (hellooooo Gaiman). Names have meaning, and names have power, a lot more power than most people in 21st century America give them credit for. A name has to fit. It's not like aliases. Those can be funny or stupid, they can be in jokes or homages, and they can not quite sit right on the character because it isn't who they are. (Well, unless you're dealing with someone like Sophie but honey, that's a whole other level of meta that we just don't need to pull apart inside my head.) You can't have a super serious person and then give them a completely ridiculous name unless it's a plot point or a satire, because it undermines how the reader perceives them, undermines how you as an author perceive them. Or, y'know, how I as an author perceive them.
I. Hate. Names.
Sometimes I get lucky. The name just falls into my lap like manna from heaven and it works. There's a certain Kitsune in my head that happened with, way back when I first wrote that short story for a creative writing class. Sometimes I go for as long as humanly possible without naming the person (see Dani, Motorcycle Vagabond - though really she's also an experiment in identity, who she is when she's alone, and who she is when she's with people, and who she is when she's with Aiden, and yes, I'm quite aware that at some point I need to actually write a proper short story with her and do it right... also I need to find their last names...).
Most of the time I have to fight for names.
Take steampunk for example. I had to break out this nice long list of names I have. First names, last names, names put together. I made a second list, narrowing down names I thought suited the tone. After that it's like clothes shopping. Trying this name on someone or that name, or this combination and which to keep... And there's still people that go unnamed.
Things are both easier and harder. You still have to tap into it's essence, and it reflects on the people who named it, the people who own it in the story itself. :stares at the airship: Less stressful, but not less easy.
To be honest though, I've never had to name places. I mean, I've messed around with it before, sort of. I had this thing where I'd draw and redraw maps of places that didn't exist. But most of my real writing has been set in universes that already exist, fashioned and named by someone else, or on Earth. I guess we'll find out with steampunk if I need to make up names for cities...
I hate names. No, let me say that for you again. I. HATE. Names.
See, someone impressed on me from a young age the importance of names (I'm looking at you Tolkien and Lewis), which was further emphasized on my journey back into story telling (hellooooo Gaiman). Names have meaning, and names have power, a lot more power than most people in 21st century America give them credit for. A name has to fit. It's not like aliases. Those can be funny or stupid, they can be in jokes or homages, and they can not quite sit right on the character because it isn't who they are. (Well, unless you're dealing with someone like Sophie but honey, that's a whole other level of meta that we just don't need to pull apart inside my head.) You can't have a super serious person and then give them a completely ridiculous name unless it's a plot point or a satire, because it undermines how the reader perceives them, undermines how you as an author perceive them. Or, y'know, how I as an author perceive them.
I. Hate. Names.
Sometimes I get lucky. The name just falls into my lap like manna from heaven and it works. There's a certain Kitsune in my head that happened with, way back when I first wrote that short story for a creative writing class. Sometimes I go for as long as humanly possible without naming the person (see Dani, Motorcycle Vagabond - though really she's also an experiment in identity, who she is when she's alone, and who she is when she's with people, and who she is when she's with Aiden, and yes, I'm quite aware that at some point I need to actually write a proper short story with her and do it right... also I need to find their last names...).
Most of the time I have to fight for names.
Take steampunk for example. I had to break out this nice long list of names I have. First names, last names, names put together. I made a second list, narrowing down names I thought suited the tone. After that it's like clothes shopping. Trying this name on someone or that name, or this combination and which to keep... And there's still people that go unnamed.
Things are both easier and harder. You still have to tap into it's essence, and it reflects on the people who named it, the people who own it in the story itself. :stares at the airship: Less stressful, but not less easy.
To be honest though, I've never had to name places. I mean, I've messed around with it before, sort of. I had this thing where I'd draw and redraw maps of places that didn't exist. But most of my real writing has been set in universes that already exist, fashioned and named by someone else, or on Earth. I guess we'll find out with steampunk if I need to make up names for cities...