Starsreader
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I always find the names chosen for all characters so marvellous and fitting to each occasion. where do you find them or from what sources do you make them up / create them? Penric, Ingray, etc, just lovely!
Lois McMaster Bujold
Names are always a burden to me. When working in a made-up universe like Chalion or the Wide Green World, I often brainstorm potential name lists in advance of the story, so that when a new character pops onstage I don't come to a dead stop for three days trying to figure out his/her/its name. I have a prefab list of dozens, and just run down it till one pops out as feeling right for that individual. This also allows me to create a more uniform sense of language/name groups and so on. (Taking a region on a map, chopping all the names into syllables, and recombining them can lend a subliminal sense of language/culture unity to a name list.) In working in the Vorkosiverse, I am very happy to now live in the age of Wikipedia, where I can pull up lists of authentic ethnic Old Earth names at a mouse-click. Beats the heck out of the days when all I had was the local telephone directory and some syllable-scrambling.
Ta, L.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Clariana
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Hello Lois I thought the first Penric anthology looked a little underrated on Amazon.es (Amazon Spain) so I thought I´d add this review (in Spanish) under Clariana: https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/1982124296?pf_rd_p=17a988a6-15ad-46df-8d9f-8365d36240ce&pf_rd_r=NAMA654AE8ECH1RKHT29 Do you have a Spanish translator for the Penric novellas yet?
Nicolas Mendoza
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I just realized that Miles in The Warrior's Apprentice is the Wizard of Oz! Elena the Scarecrow needs an education. Arde the Tin Man is emotionally dependent on wormhole jumps and his "bottle of oil", the green booze. Baz Jesek is, of course, the Cowardly Lion. Miles convinces them that they already have it in them, and flies away in a balloon while the Dendarii cheer. There's no place like Barrayar! Am I close?
Ari
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Hi Lois, We just had a bottle of this before noticing the name. Have you seen it before: https://goo.gl/images/ZwG5Yq ? From their website it looks like their and your choice of names are of a similar vintage, too. (Apologies if you've been asked this too many times before -- I can't find a way to search the questions.)
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