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Author
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Comment
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denag
Registered User
(7/30/03 12:58 pm)
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naming difficulties
Can anyone help me with a writing problem? I'm developing a story - a sort of fantasy, for which I am dreaming up all kinds of strange places, people and characters.
The trouble is, when I first think of them, a name doesn't always spring to mind immediately - I have to mull it over, try different things, look words up, and so on. This is all fine, but it causes me to trip over while drafting the plot, because I keep having to use clumsy labels (like "the villain" or "the people from the tribes in the mountains", etc) to identify places/characters. And this somehow distracts me from the story itself, and is quite inhibitory.
Does anyone else have this problem - or (hopefully) - has anyone found a way round this problem that they find works?
I'd be very grateful for any hints.
Thanks in advance,
Dena
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Ron McCutchan
Unregistered User
(7/30/03 4:35 pm)
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Finding names
Although this is not to point on your question (i.e. how to handle a "holding name" while searching for the right one), I thought I'd mention a source I've used (for madrigal dinner scripts, actually) that I found via the Society for Creative Anachronism (I'm not big into the SCA per se, but I do find their reference materials useful). This site has a number of name lists (culled from documents like baptism records, etc) from various European countries at various points in the late medieval through Renaissance period. Obviously, if you're creating your own cultures for fantasy, a list like this may not apply but if you're starting from a specific culture (I'm thinking of Gregory Maguire's CONFESSIONS OF AN UGLY STEPSISTER), it might serve a purpose.
www.panix.com/~mittle/names
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Blackwolf
Unregistered User
(7/30/03 10:17 pm)
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A list of names.
I am with Ron here. The website is a good place to start. But if you are creating your own world and culture, it's good to sit down and think up a list of names. This is what I do. Likewise, you might want to come up with your own language?
Good luck.
Blackwolf
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denag
Registered User
(7/31/03 7:19 am)
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names and inventions
what a wonderful site. i can see i'll be spending hours browsing
there! i've got an oxford dictionary of names, but i have to be
careful where i browse it or everyone thinks i'm going to have a
baby!
i keep thinking about inventing a language, which is rather daunting, but will become necessary i suspect.
i keep getting stuck over which aspect of the story to develop first. The plot grows on its own, almost, in fits and starts, with endings, beginnings, and rather muddled-middles all forming in my mind at inconvenient moments. But when i try to pin these down, i start asking awkward questions, like "why?" and i have to go back in time.
I think, if I was really creating a whole world, i'd probably start with the laws of nature (and any associated "magic"), then the landscape, plants+animals+people. It seems to me that the language and culture would grow out of these.
But writing a story doesn't seem to work quite like that, i find, because the starting point is a particular combination of characters and events. The world i place it in has to fit that, or i end up chucking out the old story to find a new one that fits the world i've invented.
this is the way it's going at the moment - just as i think i've got it, a detail clashes and i have to head back to first principles to work it all out again. sometimes the "world" can change, but sometimes it has to be the story itself. it can be very difficult to decide which one to keep.
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Maatera
Registered User
(8/5/03 3:17 pm)
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naming difficulties
I'm not sure if this will help you or not but...
I've got an old copy of stories by Lord Dunsany. In it, there is an essay about how he came up with the names of his gods and characters. (Apparenly the Bible was a big source of names that had the right sound.)
If your interested, I'll dig it up. I can scan the text and send it to. Let me know.
Connie
www.connietoebe.com
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denag
Registered User
(8/6/03 11:40 am)
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essay by Lord Dunsany
Oh yes please. but who is Lord Dunsany? should I be adding his stories to my "essential reading" list?
I looked round your online gallery. i loved the dreamlike feel of the pictures.
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Maatera
Registered User
(8/6/03 3:57 pm)
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essay by Lord Dunsany
Lord Dunsany was a fantasy writer from the early 20th century. I don't know much about him. I read a series of short stories of his that were all about different "gods" and legends. The one where Fate and Chance play a chess game to decide who will rule the universe always intrigued me. They are really beautiful and not like anything else I've ever read. You can buy new prints of his stories on Amazon if I'm not mistaken. Definately worth a look, even if they aren't fairy tales.
Give me a day or two to dig up that book. I haven't seen it since I moved last fall, but that doesn't mean much. Just send me an email at artwork@connietoebe.com and we can go from there.
And thanks for the compliment on my art. I'm glad you enjoyed looking
at it.
Connie
www.connietoebe.com
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briggsw
Unregistered User
(8/6/03 8:07 pm)
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2 great sources, and a hack for language
I suggest reading Lord Dunsany -- his fiction -- and Jack Vance. Not only are Vance's stories great, the language is beautiful and after reading a lot of Vance, I began to be able to come up with nice new names a lot more easily.
Another idea: to come up with a language, start with one that has simple rules for what's pronounceable, like maybe "0 or 1 consonant at the beginning of a syllable, plus one vowel" and list the consonants and vowels. Then make a few changes. I started with Japanese and added a rule that "t" could follow other consonants. I ended up with these names in a short story: Haleamu, Pti, Mtale, Seio, Kusu Tava. The names sound fairly distinctive. Actually, I don't like "Seio" much.
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