- I sold another story! To Hub Magazine!
- Agent rejection #41
- Read my stuff on 365 Tomorrows.
- Heaven continues its planning.
- Bumper: Buffy Between the Lines
- Endings! Nancy Kress article
- Spider-Man 3 spoiler. Sorry. It’s over at 8:30.
- Connie Willis’ Just Like the Ones That We Used to Know
- Michael A. Stackpole’s The Secrets
- Bumper: Voice of Free Planet X
- SF Name Generator
- Tk’tk’tk on Escape Pod
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8 Responses to ISBW #67 – Endings
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- Short Story Alert- Gimme Shelter January 27, 2012
Mur! Another sale! Awesome!
What was the story? When will it be appearing? I’m sure you reveal all in the podcast, but I’m way behind (back on #65) and the suspense is killing me!
Well done!
You’ve forced me to use exclamation marks recklessly!
While checking out the name generator, I discovered this Arcane Tome from the Cthulhu Mythos:
Tome of Ariwulf
I want to read this one.
Some ideas on naming that might be helpful.
The best resource on naming/language I’ve found is Holly Lisle’s “Create a Language Clinic”. If you do some of the basic exercises you can generate lists of consistent names.
One thing that’s worked for me is to come up with a list of name ahead of time, and when I get to a character I look at the list, find one that seems to fit, and cross it off. I usually have multiple lists (male, female, place, etc.)
Of course sometimes I’m too busy writing to worry about it. So my first drafts are filled with people named [tall palace guard], [shopkeeper], [childhood friend], and [bob]. Works for me.
On names…
If you are stuck on trying to think up of a super spiffy cool name for a character, how about just giving that character a nickname for the time being? Something that fits their personality. This way, for those of us that need a name to find character attachment will have something.
Think of it like camp names. You don’t know your everyone’s real name during camp, but that doesn’t mean you don’t get to know them.
Your character does have a real name, but for the time being you only know them by their nickname. That way you can worry about sorting out a super spiffy cool name some other time and just get down to writing the story. Plus, you may even find out that the character’s real name will come to you as you flesh out the story.
I suppose this method may work for other names too… cities, places, dodads, etc.
Hope this helps.
This has been the most relatable podcast to date. I suck at endings.
Can’t wait to hear this one. Thanks for the link to the Kress article!
Hey! I love your show! I just started getting into it a few weeks ago and it’s been really helpful. Anyway, I heard the question about names and I wanted to suggest a site.
http://www.behindthename.com
Basically, the webaddress says it all. It has names, meanings, name popularity by year and country, etc. Plus, a name generator.
There’s also a site for last names:
http://surnames.behindthename.com/
Otherwise, I like using baby name books. They’re helpful if you’re not around a computer. I mean, naming a character is kinda like naming your child, isn’t it?
Anyway, I hope this helps. =D Thanks and I can’t wait to hear more from you!
~Joanna
I am unpublished, but I have written and tried to submit things. I haven’t broken the ice and I’m trying to fix up my writing problems as I go. But I’m fond of naming things and very, very rarely get stuck on naming. (Usually I get stuck when things are going against plan.)
There is also “Character Naming” by Sherrilyn Kenyon in the writing section of stores. She goes over the possible psychological effects of naming. (Like hard v. soft sounds and so on.)
For me, I also use language dictionaries. So for example, I look up the image word I have for a character like “brash” and then use a thesaurus. Then I plug and play into various dictionaries–usually the base languages such as Greek, Latin, Celtic, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (mandarin or Cantonese) and hit all major language groups. (You can find out what they are online.) Once I find a combination of vowels and consonants that look good I *stick to the same language* It does look weird having “hanaglias” Because it’s Japanese with Celtic… and the pattern just breaks. So even if you’re not into linguistics you can do that. Then I play with it… Is the name too short, is it not memorable, too many hard sounds when I have a soft character, and visaversa.
Darth Vader works on two levels. Darth–meaning dark, sound like it should be dark. It has kind of the same raspy sound to it that his inhaler does on his mask. (like the soft exhale).
Vader sounds like Invader, though some fans also argue for meaning “Father” It’s also in the same general language group as “Darth”. It also echos the sound of his mask for me…
I admit I’m fond of languages (and cultures, which is why I’m aiming towards Cultural Anthropology as a major–one of two), but you don’t have to be a linguist to research language groups. (Germanic, Latin, Slavic, etc). And once you get those groups to stick to those and then use language dictionaries.
The psychological effects of letters is well covered in the book I mentioned which will give you a Western view of how sounds should work. Also if you read that book enough you’ll pick up patterns within the naming. Like “Lynn” and “Lin” both mean light. And there’s always the fodder for weird names such as “Claude” which means lame and “Cecil” which means blind. Making you think about your own naming schemes.
Baby name books are also another treasure trove.
Generally though, I find that if you are making excuses that you aren’t writing because you can’t name your characters, it’s because you are afraid of writing. The guy said he hadn’t written *anything* because he hadn’t come up with a name. But plenty of books don’t divulge names until page 3 and by then your subconscious has a good idea of who the character is, what the plot is, and gives the character a name.
There is a point too where one makes excuses *not* to start. And what you really need to do is dive in and not worry about semantic details. Leave names for last and worry more about who the character is and what they are doing in the plot, or you aren’t really writing anything and you won’t be a write until you get something. Don’t be afraid of imperfection–that’s why there is editing. Since I did Nanowrimo–this is the thing I learned the most. Make mistakes, fix them later. And that’s how I won 3 times.