Gisela Foster
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
How do you select the names of your characters in your books ?
Lois McMaster Bujold
With difficulty. For the books set on our world-ish, I can use real-world names, calibrated for cultures and times, but in the pre-internet days finding such wasn't as easy; my thin local phone book had rather slim pickings. Nowadays one can Google [country name] surnames/popular names for men/whatever, and be spoiled for accurate choice.
For my fantasy worlds, I've found it speeds things up to generate name lists in advance, from which I can just select if a new character or place pops up. (Main characters get first pick and more cogitation.) One trick to make names sound as if they all come from the same language base is to pick a place on a map (or the index in a history book), take the names found, break them down into syllables, and remix them into euphonious and pronounce-able new names. (I'm also trending to "shorter", these days.) Then stare at the list till the right name for this person or place presents itself. A prudent last step, which also wasn't possible before the internet, is to do a quick name check and make sure one hasn't accidentally given a character/place a made-up name that is something unfortunate in another language.
Ta, L.
With difficulty. For the books set on our world-ish, I can use real-world names, calibrated for cultures and times, but in the pre-internet days finding such wasn't as easy; my thin local phone book had rather slim pickings. Nowadays one can Google [country name] surnames/popular names for men/whatever, and be spoiled for accurate choice.
For my fantasy worlds, I've found it speeds things up to generate name lists in advance, from which I can just select if a new character or place pops up. (Main characters get first pick and more cogitation.) One trick to make names sound as if they all come from the same language base is to pick a place on a map (or the index in a history book), take the names found, break them down into syllables, and remix them into euphonious and pronounce-able new names. (I'm also trending to "shorter", these days.) Then stare at the list till the right name for this person or place presents itself. A prudent last step, which also wasn't possible before the internet, is to do a quick name check and make sure one hasn't accidentally given a character/place a made-up name that is something unfortunate in another language.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Stjepan Cobets
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
First I would like to thank you for your character Miles Vorkasigen inspiring me to start writing my books. Miles decided to succeed despite all obstacles. I am an indie author from Croatia and my biggest problem is editing books in English because I can't afford it. My question relates to just that little detail. Do you know someone who could help me with pro bono editing? With all due respect, S. V. Cobets
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