Names

When I was writing Super Power of the Day, I was worried that I had too many characters for a middle grade novel. But one truth I wanted to express in the story was that a child's world is populated. So I tried to limit the number of characters without compromising that premise.

At first, the number of characters in this new novel worried me. But while reading the definition of high fantasy, I realized my concern is unfounded. Created-world fiction is often epic in scope, which by definition requires a great number of characters.

To find all my names, I have researched medieval censuses, translated words into modern foreign languages and pillaged word parts from them, and fiddled with spellings of common names.

For place names, I've often plundered this book:

Of particular delight and frustration to me is rereading Rothfuss' epic and discovering how often he invented superfluous names for an object or idea and has kept/incorporated them all rather than picking his favorite to use. In other words, he is such a talented namer he has over-named almost everything. And I love it. It reflects a truth of language and naming. And to do that in a book where the very act of naming is central to plot and philosophy is brilliant.

I have been pleased to see that none of my names are in the Kingkiller Chronicles, though one of my favorites unintentionally combines pieces of two of his character names. Hard to avoid, really. I'm sure we are drawing from similar sources.

As Mark Twain said (so you know it's true):

“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.”

― Mark Twain, Mark Twain's Own Autobiography: The Chapters from the North American Review

My Question for Authors

Thanks to Nerdcon: Stories last fall, I have been part of an audience watching and listening to various authors answer questions about their work and craft. I listened as my fellow seat-mates participated, lamenting my own reluctance to join in. I just didn't have a good question to ask.

I do now.

My question for an author would be: How do you find or create your names?

One of the challenges of the fantasy genre, and high fantasy in particular, is naming. Not only does the author have to create a new world filled with realms and cities, mountain ranges and seas, languages and cultures, but she must fill that created world with newly-christened objects and a world's worth of people.

I've created governments, from macro (for realm and region) to micro (for village, military rank, and a castle).

I've named my main currency and its various lesser denominations.

I'm especially pleased with my names for days of the week and the discovery that those names could be used in other ways. For example, my name for the first day of the week is also my word for dawn and for east and my name for the last day of the week also denotes judgment.

My system of education is simple, but singular.

I've created a few curses and blessings and at least one major spiritual ritual, though the full shape of the religious and spiritual practice of the world is still cloudy in my mind.

I know I need to add more culture-specific figurative language.

But I have found a lot of names.

So now I'm curious how the literary names I've come to love were born.

More Than Just a Story

My favorite things to do in the summer:

* Read books
* Sit in the sun
* Read books while sitting in the sun
* Travel
* Read books while traveling
* Do projects
* Finish a project and go back to reading books in the sun

So last week I finished an ebook romance novel I had put on my Kindle. Being a self-published, non-edited ebook, the writing was less than brilliant. Grammatically it was better proofed than a lot of ebooks; there was, on average, just one poorly constructed sentence or misused pronoun or problem with verb tense per page. I've seen worse. My English teacher's mind quickly fixed the problems, and I continued reading. The story was engaging enough to keep me interested despite the surface errors.

And the writing, overall, wasn't terrible. Sentences were varied nicely, dialogue was decent, and from time to time I found particularly well chosen words that made me pause in admiration. I finished the story, closed my Kindle, and cleaned my oven.

Today I started rereading The Name of the Wind, and the stark difference between merely telling a story (the romance novel) and writing one beautifully (the Rothfuss) knocked my plans to tidy a particular junk drawer straight out of my mind.

Initially, I decided to reread Rothfuss' saga because I wanted to make sure I hadn't inadvertently borrowed ideas. That can happen. For example, I thought the name of my created land would be Calla. I had been looking at names of flowers for inspiration, and "the Realm of Calla" just sounded right. Then one day I was looking for a book in my library and my eyes caught on Stephen King's Dark Tower series book V, Wolves of the Calla. Whoops. It had sounded so nice because it rang a subconscious bell. I found a new name.

The section of my library shelves in consideration.

Now I'm reading in mere astonishment. Every. Blasted. Word. Is. Perfect.

That's what I want. Not to merely tell a story, but to find all the best words to tell the story beautifully.