  Fantasy
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Fantasy! It comes in all flavors and subgenres. In the realm of the imagination, boundaries become meaningless. I'll be pointing out different styles and offering advice on key elements of fantasy writing. Enjoy  --John~Ashen |
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Creating Fantasy Names
When writing works of fantasy, often writers want to use unusual names for their characters. The main purpose this serves (for the audience) is to make them memorable. Created properly, some naming methods even become iconic for the books (as are Lothlorien, Rivendell, and Mithrandir for the Lord of the Rings trilogy).
There are three ways to do names for your stories. The first is simplest and least used: just go with common, modern names. The second is also simple and, I'd guess, most often used by amateurs: pick unusual modern names (either unusual spelling or lexicon gaps -- words which are recognizable but only as names). The third method requires a bit of work but is often used by professional authors: create your own naming system.
Our Rules
In order to create your own naming system, you must first take a look at the rules already present in your own culture's naming system. Rather than speak solely from my American perspective, I'll offer many rules in effect today:
 English culture uses a short (1- or 2-syllable) first name, followed by a middle or christened name, ended with a family surname. Ex: John Andrew Shenandoah
Latin culture sometimes ascribes both parents' surnames to the child. Ex: Diego Garcia y Villalobos
Children often get a syllable added to their name while little. Ex: Jim -> Jimmy, William -> Willy, Juan -> Juanito
In Asian culture, the family surname comes first. Ex: Actor Chow Yun Fat's father's name was Chow something-something.
In Hawaii, there are only 13 letters in the alphabet (5 vowels, 8 consonants). Witness: Hawaii, Mahalo, Waikiki, Pupu, and Kahuna are all made from only 4 vowels and 7 consonants (can you figure out the missing 2?).
In ancient times, people had only one name. Last names developed as add-ons to differentiate among larger populations, often derived from one's hometown, nickname, father's name, clan name, or profession. Ex: Diego de la Mancha, Eric the Red, Leif Ericson, William of the Wallaces, Henry the Miller
Names ending in -a or -elle are usually feminine. Ex: Isabella, Moeisha, Danielle, Leia
New Rules
Now that you have some idea of the rules we're accustomed to, you can properly break out of the old system. Don't try to change everything, though! Just one or two little tweaks will do. Here are some suggestions:
Definite syllable arrangement : In your fantasy culture, children's first names can have only one syllable, gaining another upon their puberty rites. Ex: Joe, Baum, and Cole later become Joman, Bauman, and Coleman
Limit letters available for names : The whole alphabet is available for language, but the traditions of your fantasy culture dictate that only certain sounds may be used for names. Perhaps soft sounds which children can make easily: b, p, m, f, d, r, and a, i, o. Bram, Daffi, Pomda, Rimoba
Initial-final : All names could start with consonants and end in vowels. Boys get 3 syllables and the final vowels 'o' and 'e'. Girls get 2 syllables (until married) and the final vowels 'a' and 'i'. A married woman's name begins with something to signify she's married. Ex: Tobadee and Zimudo are boys, while Jola and Kari are girls who become Majola and Makari when married.
driven by place in society : All people have one name until they gain another by having lived or worked for it. Ex: Joseff was just Joe until he became Baron Joseff of Westerland, a.k.a. Joseff Westerland. Everyone knows Guthrik the barrelmaker simply as Cooper, a.k.a. Guthrik Cooper. Young Polly was known as the girl who ran from Lightvale town, a.k.a. Polly Lightvale. Intimidating Garig was unmatched at his favorite weapon and was thus called Garig Quicksword.
Otherwise
If inventing a system of naming is not for you, there is yet another route to take. This is a variation of the "choose something unusual" method. Flip through old books and take the common names of yesteryear which are no longer popular. When was the last time you heard of an Agnes or Cletus being born? Heck, the Bible works as a source, too.
Alternatively, look up the root words of any delicious adjective or noun that describes your character. There is probably a nice Greek or Latin root that would serve as a proper name.
What to Avoid
There are some things you should not do with names! First, do not flood your readers with a ton of names in the first few pages. They need time to be introduced to each character. Too many names, and your readers will be discouraged. This was one of the sins of the Dragonriders of Pern series.
Next, try not to get too outlandish with your names, either in length or pronunciation. For logistical reasons if nothing else, it's not worth typing Supercalifragilisticexpialadocious a hundred times in your manuscript. Write it once and let everyone in the story decide to call him Soup.
If you are delighted by the vision of someone choking while trying to pronounce X'chkafpzatri, you have the wrong hobby. Apostrophes should be used very rarely at best, and you should run consonants together less, not more, than normal. |
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Ŧĥē Beŋ  comments: I've noticed that a lot of fantasy writers make it easy on themselves by copying someone else's rules, and they often get away with it. Is that because readers tire of learning new rules all the time?
Answer: The easy answer is that it's like fanfiction. They mostly have a plot in mind and want to skip the whole world-building process. They launch straight into the action and drama, which are the selling points anyway. It is an okay approach as long as they don't draw too much comparison to the original world rules. In other words, writers should do just enough work for the reader never to be bothered by the common heritage cliches. Ex: elves are long-lived with pointy ears, dwarves are bearded greedy miners, half-elves are sad heroes shunned by both societies
Strange Wulf comments: I must contend with your idea of world-building. I've since left behing the idea of equating writing with "playing God" so to speak. It really is a cliche that when we write, we create the worlds we make. However, after reading a couple of the Myst books (based on the awesome computer game of the same name), I came to a much different conclusion.
We are not "gods". We are travellers. I am not responsible for what happens in these worlds. I am merely an observer. While I can choose which path or timeline to follow, if I am a true writer, I will stay faithful to my characters. I will let them do as they would, not as I would have them do. Probably means a lot of arguments with my characters, but so be it.
Response: I love character-driven stories. However, remember that while actions are determined by character, characters are products of their environment. In fantasy worlds, we create the environment. You cannot start with a contemporary character type without asking if he/she is a logical product of the fantasy culture.
To me, your "traveler" perspective belongs to the audience. If we tell our stories properly, they catch a meaningful glimpse of our world without being distracted by what's going on behind the Wizard of Oz's curtain.
Jaoli~ miss you all, bye ;( comments: Any way you could write a newsletter about setting vs. dialogue? Do readers like the characters talking more, and the desciption of the setting less? Or did I get that backwards...
Answer: As Mr. Miyagi said to Daniel-san: You must find a balance! Readers prefer action and dialogue, but as narrator you must sneak in enough background information to color in the sensory and historic details. I'm sure I'll cover this in an upcoming issue (next month's "Info Dumping" article perhaps?).
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Fantasy: February 15, 2006 Issue [#885]
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