I wish the pharma industry would quit using up all the really cool alien names.

@tagg1080

Жыл бұрын

Drug name or lord of the rings character is a really difficult test.

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

This is too real 🤣

@BKPrice

Жыл бұрын

A travel ad in a sci-fi story: "Ask your travel agent if Valipotrol 7 is right for you."

@IAmMajor101

Жыл бұрын

😂😂😂

@user-qi6pv9jh7o

Жыл бұрын

Dunno, my drugs don't sound better than names i make. Though i rarely make names

Dude, there's a secret trick to coming up with names in just a few steps: 1) Use a crappy placeholder name until inspiration strikes. 2) Become attached to the placeholder. 3) You are now attached to the crappy placeholder, congrats, that's literally how 90% of places are historically named.

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

Ha, love it

@hayond656

Жыл бұрын

Ooh that's funny, what places?

@boota2474

Жыл бұрын

@@hayond656 "Hey, see that lake over there, what do the local Africans call it?" "Chad" "Cool, then we'll call it Lake Chad, in the country of Chad." "Chad" meant Lake in the local tongue, so now the Lake Lake is in the country of Lake. "Hey, there's a town over at the end of the hills. What do you call it?" "I dunno, we've always just called it Hills End". "Hey, what should we name our town?" "I dunno, just name it after the King." Charleston. "Hey, are you sure that secret shipping route led to the Western side of India?" "Yes, don't question me, shut up and name it the West Indies."

@Mahlak_Mriuani_Anatman

Жыл бұрын

​@@boota2474 lmfao

@MartijnVos

Жыл бұрын

@@boota2474 There's a hill in the UK that's called Hill Hill Hill Hill in 4 different languages. The only problem: now you have to come up with 4 different languages.

It won't work for every story, but if you simply must use an unpronouncable or tonguetwister name for your alien race or its members, have a human or human-influenced character provide a nickname, or if they are familiar enough with human speech let the aliens provide a human nickname themselves. Larry Niven is very good at this.

@Just_Another_Gravemind

Жыл бұрын

Often I try to simplify the first few syllables of the name. That way it's still recognizable, yet it can still be easily pronounced

@mikevoss4894

Жыл бұрын

@@Just_Another_Gravemind Yep, there are lots of ways to make it easier on your readers.

@aldahviirthedovah8148

Жыл бұрын

This reminds me of this scene in Dragon Heart 2, I forget the full title, where Geoff meets the dragon Hisyoxylannochoganothos, or however it's spelled, and he just ends up calling him Drago because he's a dragon. Like what kind of name is that for a dragon? Drago sound way better.

@Nicamon

Жыл бұрын

@@mikevoss4894 Aximili Esgarrouth Isthill likes this element.👍💙

@natekite7532

Жыл бұрын

This happens in real life too, anyways. Corruptions of foreign words/names are EXTREMELY common. In Mexican Spanish, many plants, foods, and animals have names that end in _-te_ (like _aguacate_ , which means "avocado"). These are borrowings from words in Nahuatl, the most common indigenous language in Mexico. Why do they end in _-te_ ? In Nahuatl, almost every noun ends in _-tl_ , which is a sort of weird clicky sound which is very rare and very difficult to pronounce (/tɬ/ in IPA). When Spanish speakers tried to pronounce the native words, they just ended up saying "te" instead, since it was more comfortable. So you go from _aguacatl_ -> _aguacate_ . Characters will naturally do the same thing, trying their best to pronounce hard words, then giving up and just saying what's easy for them.

Well, guess it's time to scrap my manuscript: "Harry, Henry, Hubert, Humphrey: The Happenings of the Four H's"

@johnschwartz1641

Жыл бұрын

I immediately thought of the first time I read The Silmarillion, aka "The Adventures of Feanor, Fingolfin, Finwe, and Finrod." Tolkien obviously had an excuse, starting with a language and building names from there, but it was still very difficult to follow along with. Tuor and Huor and Turin and Hurin were hard to keep straight as well.

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

Ha!

@MoltenPlastic

9 ай бұрын

And I had just finished off "Adolf's war" as well...

@miss-laea

4 ай бұрын

Wait until you hear about the characters in the game Don’t Starve…

@Herecomesdatboi12

2 ай бұрын

This comment made my day, love it

Rather than relying on generated names, one potential filter you could use is to do a quick study on naming conventions. Apply these in any combination of your choosing or let them inspire you to create your own. Then when you look up some names you like, apply your chosen naming convention(s) to it and see if you like the results. Scandinavian "surnames" are the father's name with "son" or "dottr" tacked on to the end (for sons and daughters respectively). Ancient Egyptian names tended to end in "et" for women and "es" or "ep" for men. Many Eastern Asian names have the family name (surname) come first followed by the name of the individual. Many English surnames are based on location or profession. (Fisher, Chandler, and others basically told you what they did for a living). Many ancient societies had no surname and a description was added. This trend continued and is still used in some places you might not expect. Geralt of Rivia, John the Baptist, or Kang the Conqueror for instance. (Bet you never expected to see those three names together on a list) This practice evolved to having surnames based on a location. Point being that a rudimentary knowledge of naming conventions can greatly enrich your character names. Just... don't go so far down the rabbit hole that you never get to work on your story.. but if names are a perpetual issue, it can certainly help.

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

This is a great tip

@godofthecripples1237

Жыл бұрын

This could be excellent advice but the fact that it's so long and detailed made me immediately understand why some may just prefer to go for generated names when it's really not that important.

@hungariangiraffe6361

Жыл бұрын

Eastern Asians are not the only ones who put surname at the first place! We Hungarians in Central-Europe do it too, this why my name is Tóth Nimród Benedek instead of Nimród Benedek Tóth (please don't laugh at my name, Nimród used to mean hunter in my language and not what you think of).

@Nicamon

Жыл бұрын

@@hungariangiraffe6361 "Nimród used to mean "Hunter" in my language and not what you think of" I'm Italian and I think Nimròd sounds cool as a name(I should hear it pronounced to be sure,but,reading it,it seems cool 😎),but I don't know what should I _think_ it means...😅

@gegu937

Жыл бұрын

You can even take this further by creating some of your own naming conventions and then following that when it applies (like nobles following a naming scheme while the general public is just words)

I think using names with hidden meanings are fun in that they can add meaning to the story, or making those connections later on makes the story interesting enough to come back to. But for sure, it’s good to use names readers can appreciate even if they don’t make those connections.

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

I'm not 100% against it - I sometimes like to do it for my own amusement for sure

@aeea3306

Жыл бұрын

The fart gun, has the properties of both fart and gun

@gegu937

Жыл бұрын

just generally putting words to the naming scheme youre using. In Brandon Sanderson's "the stormlight archives" one character is named renarin, and the book breaks down the naming scheme just to explain that hes named "he who is born unto himself"

@aiiiia9971

11 ай бұрын

I agree, I don't make it so that it is impossible to understand what is going on if you don't know the meaning. The way I see it is more as a secret easter egg to reward the reader that wants to dig deeper

@GrndAdmiralThrawn

11 ай бұрын

I like for my names to have real-world meanings that are Easter eggs for readers who know what they mean. Maybe it’s not that the story “hinges on” knowing Susan means lily flower, but I would probably give her lily motifs if I wanted that to be significant. For example, I have a character in my book named Phoebe. Phoebe was an Ancient Greek moon goddess. Phoebe in my book is a werewolf. They go together.

As a former scriptreader, almost every sci-fi or fantasy story I read included a name that boiled down to "Varik Darkul", so that's what apparently everyone thinks is the "coolest name".

@ZacharyReaper

5 ай бұрын

I'mma use it.

@zatchbell5678

4 ай бұрын

Certified coolest name

@mangle9143

3 ай бұрын

It's almost Darth Vader but switched around

@twogamers777

3 ай бұрын

Im gonna name my first born child that

@MrMudslap

3 ай бұрын

Lukraad of Kyr-Rav

After carefully watching this video, i have decided that one of my characters will now be called "Yogurt Frostwood"

I quite literally named my protagonist "Parasol", simply because she wields an umbrella 😭

@morganlefay195

10 ай бұрын

Well, Marisol is a perfect valid name in Spanish, so it make sense.

@zatchbell5678

4 ай бұрын

I love it

@nicholauscrawford7903

3 ай бұрын

A Mary Poppins type?

@Ralseionthedarkworldcomputer

Ай бұрын

Parsol can work

@FormaCodex_5-7

11 күн бұрын

Wait a minute... PARASOUL FROM SKULLGIRLS

One thing I don't think came up in this lesson: while you *should* use placeholders if you haven't figured out a character's name, finding that right name may well be beneficial to writing the character and inspire you when you discover it. While worldbuilding for a story with few details and no name for the mc and antagonist, I stumbled upon the perfect name while reading another story. It clicked immediately, and spurred me to sit down and write a ragged but very helpful story treatment that I sent to a writer friend because I was now so excited I had to tell somebody about my story idea. He'd already seen an opening snippet for it and wanted me to hurry up and write it, but the longer treatment fired up his enthusiasm for the project as well as mine. If you are actually writing the story and discover the mc's "right and proper" name, it can do wonders to inspire your efforts further, and a lot of things may suddenly fall into place that were up in the air before, because now that you know who the character is, you'll find it easier to discover what he is, what he does, and other things as well. Just as a good idea can jumpstart a story, a good name can jumpstart a character.

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

Absolutely

I usually create character names by rearranging a word or two related to them and then adding few letters if needed which are usually vowels to make it easier to pronounce(at least easier for me to pronounce lol). Example: The word "Forest" - there are 36 different ways to rearrange the letters of this word. I chose and stopped at 'sterof' and then just added an 'e' on the beginning making it "Esterof". The name somewhat fits the character and it sounded nice to me as well so I kept it instead of rolling the dice again. Anyways, nice video!

@hspoiala

5 ай бұрын

Aww man, this was the kind of advice I was looking for .... Thank-you for sharing this!!!!

@joemartinmoussawer2501

4 ай бұрын

I do something similar. I try to add or cut down on letters and alter the ending of words. Example: The word "Wandering" - Wandering -> Wanderinth -> Wandrinth -> Wanrith.

@cadenvanvalkenburg6718

4 ай бұрын

I always end up looking for alternate mythological names. For example, I have a goddess of love and war inspired vaguely by Aphrodite, so I named her Areia, an epithet that the Spartans ocasionally applied to her in ancient Rome.

@CaptainvonDore

3 ай бұрын

Hey, I am curious to know how you got the number 36. What restrictions did you put in the rearrangement to get that? Since if it's freely rearranged you get 720 possibilities, which is 20 times of 36. But of course most of them would be hard to pronounce. But you putting only pronunciation as restrictions wouldn't also give 36 since those are kind of subjective and depends one's mother tongue and accents. So I want to know what you did.

@jaym5880

3 ай бұрын

@@CaptainvonDore Oh, my bad. It is 720. I don't recall how I got 36, but it seems I have forgotten how combinations and permutations work .

When you came up with a story when you were five and gave your main characters stupid names that don't have any meaning but now youre so attached to those names that you cant change them:

@radnus06

9 ай бұрын

Relatable

@carimeslockdownedtree2654

7 ай бұрын

I came up with two characters, Kay and Shawd, when I was around 14? So nowhere near as young as you. But now even though the names are very strange (particularly Shawd), I feel like I can't change them. They've changed way too much over the years, and if I were to change the names too, then what's stopping them from being completely different characters? That's literally the only thing that's been consistent over the years. So yes. I feel your pain.

@nicholauscrawford7903

3 ай бұрын

Are you sure they don't have any meaning, though? They must have come from somewhere, right?

In my WIP, the names of people born in the nation the novel is centred in are determined by the saint tied to the day/month they are born in, which leads to some really cool meanings (One of the MCs is named after a saint associated with death in his area of the society, but in his love interest's society it is associated with being a leader and talented warrior)

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

That's cool

@dulcecitarisitas3504

Жыл бұрын

You created new zodiac signs

@wearenotdoinggethelp3333

Жыл бұрын

@@dulcecitarisitas3504 Hah, I actually hadn't thought of it that way! But yeah!

@HelloThere-cz9ti

Жыл бұрын

Where can I read it, sounds interesting

@adwa8471

11 ай бұрын

This is a really creative idea omg

It's strange how names just come to me right away when I'm writing novels. Then just for fun I look up what the name means (if it's not a super fantasy name that I made up), and it ends up being right on when it comes to the qualities of that character.

@TheVortex808

Жыл бұрын

Wanted to name my protagonist Charlotte. And I wanted her to be very smart, independent, strong, and above all, creative. Who can think on her feet and find ways to overcomes struggles that seems outlandish at first, but is very smart. Ended up having her name mean exactly what her personality is.

@AlexGorskov

Жыл бұрын

I believe all creative people are channelers :) we just take this information from somewhere. This point raises many questions, such as: Wait, Middle Earth is real? Well --very, very possible. Tolkien was writing down historical facts of another world.. could it be so? We might find out one day.

@galacticgamingguy5906

Жыл бұрын

Never has a truer thing been said

@kid0rchid

Жыл бұрын

Omg, this is so true

@Gnome-kc7pr

Жыл бұрын

Love that

Go to the cemetery and collect all the cool old names on the headstones

@lichcao2300

Ай бұрын

Dude why this cracks me up so hard 😂

Just a small thing, but CTRL+F isn't the most efficient solution to replace placeholders. There's also CTRL+H: Search and Replace. Do it once and you've got everything for the whole document (well, so long as you were consistent with the placeholder)

@thememelord6510

11 ай бұрын

dude i bet he didn't know how to do that and added that part so someone could comment how to search and replace because I didn't know that either

@aionicthunder

11 ай бұрын

@@thememelord6510 The thing is: the way I figured out what the keyboard shortcut for S&R was by guessing. I knew it was a thing; I just didn’t know what the shortcut was (and I suppose I didn’t think to just look it up)

@osbourn5772

9 ай бұрын

You should be a bit careful before using this though, and back up/commit to version control your story before doing this, since it is very easy to screw up a find and replace. I think maybe some find and replace tools do it word-by-word instead of all automatically which should work.

@valstanford3676

8 ай бұрын

What if you are using an iPad or a tablet to write with 7:16

@ilovestem12313

6 ай бұрын

​@@osbourn5772 yeah, like if a character's placeholder is Ing (yeah no don't ask) find and replace will give you ALL INSTANCES OF THE LETTERS I-N-G, so eating, sleeping, etc will be replaced with (if the character's name is Bob) eatBob, sleepBob

Something else I hate about alien names is when they make them sound silly or use too many x y or zs like a "Zork" kind of name

@KefkeWren

Жыл бұрын

Weird spellings are shorthand for, "Humans can't pronounce this properly." "Silly" names are shorthand for, "Their culture is different from humans, and has different ideas of how things sound."

@erynastan2454

11 ай бұрын

Also, Commander Zord would Like a word with you!

@schoolgirlmaro

10 ай бұрын

What up my glip-glops!!

@oz_jones

9 ай бұрын

Be careful or you will be eaten by a grue

@LawfulWeevil42

9 ай бұрын

That's close to quasar, though, and that's pretty cool by itself!

Baby name websites are my first point of call normaly, and as a rule I tend to use consistent naming conventions for people who are part of the same group.

@Kasino80

8 ай бұрын

Same here, also for an eastern European inspired setting I did, I went to Czech names and drew inspiration from there.

Sometimes I just use punny names. I named some of my characters after flowers: for example, Daniel D. Léon for Dandelion, it makes it catchy and funny, but i guess this is also a Pixar kind of way of doing it, especially if you're an animator or artist.

@ArbitraryOutcome

9 ай бұрын

Ah yes, Ace Attorney character names.

@longiusaescius2537

9 ай бұрын

Nice

@longiusaescius2537

9 ай бұрын

@ArbitraryOutcome lol wild

@Irrelevant402

6 ай бұрын

Akira Toriyama!?

@kayweda5929

3 ай бұрын

I've heard that Dragon Alley (HP) is Diagonally…

There are two ways I come up with names in my sci-fi writing: 1 - Mishearing lyrics in songs sung in foreign languages. For example, "Som ger sommartider" (Swedish) became "Sonya Summer", cuz _boy_ does it sound like that! "Tullaan viisaammiksi näin" (Finnish) helped me name a musical band "Mixy 9". 2 - "Random Word Generator" program. That app doesn't just generate random words; it has an editor which allows you to enter a ton of phonemes and how frequently--and in which order--they should be employed in the words it generates. The language of a major alien race is backward from most languages, where vowel sounds tend to come _before_ consonants, so I entered all of the possible letters (cuz not every sound in English is represented), told the generator in which order they should appear in a word, and set it loose. The aliens are known as the Ikakurog-- 'ik', 'ah', ur', and 'og'--and sentences like "Anyumal yunyeg adyae" (which I decided means "Knowledge is powerful") came out as well, one word at a time. Random Word Generator is a very useful tool.

@Aaa-vp6ug

23 күн бұрын

The alien language reads a little bit like Japanese.

@BionicDance

23 күн бұрын

@@Aaa-vp6ug It's actually reverse Japanese. Where most Japanese phonemes are consonant-vowel, Ikakurog goes vowel-consonant.

@Aaa-vp6ug

23 күн бұрын

@@BionicDance Fair

13:00 that Susan/lily flower connection certainly shouldn't be the key to a story, but if it were just an Easter egg it would be pretty cool. Maybe Susan is tied symbolically to lilies (perhaps she leaves town, and a drought dries up the pond where the characters met), and people who know the origin of the name would get a little bonus thing to appreciate.

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

Agreed

@chiefpenguin1728

Жыл бұрын

For my demonic villains, they're named Bael, Mammon, Belphagor, and Paimon all names from demons that are talked about in folklore like the lesser key of Solomon

@eddarby469

Жыл бұрын

Susan grows up to become The Flower Druid.

@daniellogan-scott5968

Жыл бұрын

I was going to post the same thing. In a society that I am working on, I have used ancient Greek culture as a base and built names from Greek words. For example, one character is called Korenyx, a combination of kore (a word meaning girl or maiden and a euphemism for Persephone, the Queen of the Underworld) and nyx, the Greek word for both the night and the goddess of Night. So Korenyx essentially means Night Maiden. Whether this is linguistically accurate or if the reader gets it is irrelevant, but if they do there is that Easter egg that tells them about the character. She is perky, sweet and innocent but darkly comical in an Addams sort of way. "A boy once gave me his heart...I still have it."

@skye1283

Жыл бұрын

i genuinely don’t understand why he says its bad. like, people can still like star wars even if they don’t realize the main character is named after the creator

It's really important to not stress too much about finding the perfect name for your character, especially because I already found the objectively perfect fantasy name: Nationale Cnidarioheart Jacob Avalanchester.

@johannageisel5390

Жыл бұрын

I love Cnidarioheart so much! Because, you know, Cnidaria don't have hearts. But they are also probably the first predators to arise, so why name somebody Lionheart if you can name them after a much cooler, more ancient predator's (non-existing) heart!

@Closerline

Жыл бұрын

Now that reminds me with a certain Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade fella haha

@ishashka

10 ай бұрын

​@@Closerlineah yes, the iron-blooded, hot-blooded, cold-blooded vampire

@longiusaescius2537

9 ай бұрын

@Closerline Shinobu

@joshlin50ja

9 ай бұрын

Its funny but I can’t take it seriously. A bit too tryhard for my taste.

I've always just put some brief description as the place holder. It can either be as simple and broad as "MC" for main character or something more descriptive, like "Vampire Kid" abbreviated to VK or for my character who lives in the clouds, "Cloud Guy" lol. It's fun to name, but I've killed enough hours in D&D and RPG video games JUST coming up with a name, so I've learned to avoid it if it's taking too long, and come back.

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

I should've mentioned that I do the same as well

@ashwhiteforest9078

Жыл бұрын

I pick random objects or throw darts at an imaginary board of names in my head.

@Bubba960

Жыл бұрын

I use Bubba a lot

@xtremesubber9136

10 ай бұрын

Dude, same!

@yourehereforthatarentyou

26 күн бұрын

a recent work i’ve been writing is about a man who gets possessed by a devil so i just used the words “Protag” & “Devil” for the main characters until i settled on their actual names; Mox Morningstar & Kazanaarhae but Mox is just a nickname and his real name is Kane Morningstar, and he’s called that bc of the obvious biblical references (spelled Kane instead of Cain, and Morningstar being one of Lucifer’s names), and Kazanaarhae i just completely made up based on some loose guidelines for the fictional language spoken by the devils

I often use baby naming websites to look up names by gender, region, and meaning. It's not vital to my stories that the reader knows the literal meaning of the name, but it helps me shape the character if their name meaning harmonizes with their characterization. Unless I'm going for deliberate irony like giving a fem fatal vampire a name that means "kitten".

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

Baby name websites are great for this

@johannageisel5390

Жыл бұрын

I only think you need to be careful if you are choosing foreign names and have a setting that's kind of real-world-ish. For example, if you had an urban fantasy that features a 20 year old handsome and badass German character and you name him Rainer or Walter, I would expect an explanation as somebody who comes from that culture. Those are old man names that sound pretty unsexy and unfashionable. Why would his parents named the poor boy like that?

@camberr

Жыл бұрын

​@@johannageisel5390that's why I think finding name usage by year data is important to, since to me Rainer is a really cool name but I don't have the context

@longiusaescius2537

9 ай бұрын

Lol

@steam_jane5580

5 ай бұрын

Since my land is made up place but with elements of different places, like it could be a place on earth and it's set around now. I can get away with quite a few names, but I still need to be a bit mindful. It is a good point that names have reason like did a certain country conquer or were a group push out there e.g lots of Indian or Germanic names and did they marry the locals and take that surname. Is it a multicultural place etc. Also class , not so much in first names if set today, but still a factor in certain circles. Also do you want the name to have a meaning as to why the parents (or whoever named them) chose it or is it more random

I am so glad that you said "don't choose names that are hard to pronounce" I always hate that when reading a book. I read this book once that i could not figure out how to say the main characters name so i just called her abby through the whole book because the first two letters were ab. So i make a point have easy names for the readers to figure out in my stories.

I have this fantasy world where one of the cultures generally has long names with repeating sounds. For example, my main character is called Ruru'aakinu. To avoid making readers want to cry over having to read a long ass name four thousand times over the span of 300 pages, I have come up with a super complex solution: Nicknames. Yeah she's literally just going to go by Ruru the entire book. If you have things will long names, give them nicknames. (For example, in Ender's Game the alien race is called the Formics, but everyone just calls them buggers as slang since it's easier to remember). You won't have to make new names, and you won't have to put your readers through extreme pain and suffering because your one setting happens to utilize all 26 letters of the alphabet.

@zubbworks

Жыл бұрын

I hate bad slang in fiction. No one would call your (thing), (slang word). The slang word would be much worse. Or retardeder.

@grugmangaming5152

Жыл бұрын

Pardon nitpick but, Formics isn't a hard name to remember to be honest since it in itself is a short name. I was under the impression that them being called Buggers is just a nickname out of prejudice. Nonetheless, Valid points regarding long names should maybe have a nickname. It's like how Thrawns real name is much more.. Wordier. There could be interesting choices if the names are nicknames for other species or if there's like, a Birth name for close ones but for non-associates you refer to yourself by alias. You can get some interesting worldbuilding options.

@fist-of-doom487

10 ай бұрын

Reminds me of an Alien from a 90’s Book series. Theirs an alien Race called Andalites and they have very long and complicated 3 part names. Considering that most of the main characters of Human and can’t comfortably pronounce that they shorten it. For example a friend of the group is named Aximili Esgarouth Isthil but they call him Ax for short because no one is going to try and pronounce all that,

@AlwaysRightAllNight

10 ай бұрын

@@zubbworksretardeder isn’t a word😂😂😂

@greenmarble638

9 ай бұрын

meanwhile brandon sanderson shortening Numuhukumakiaki'aialunamor to Rock

It was a name which sparked an entire world I am creating. I have many names with their meanings: - Calixos (Firm, Stable) - Romanael (Victorious Woman) - Eurimactos (Golden Warrior) - Rōvimundos (Horse Guardian) Very Greco-Roman inspired. Tho the main character is named after kingdom, and is her name which gives rise to the mythology I am crafting.

When I name my characters, locations and magic. I usually layout the language first try to give each their own phrases and terms that have origins and as years go by people would start using them in names with some alterations to make them be a name than a thing.

14:10 North of the Border is a clay sculptor (who makes some incredibly entertaining videos, check him out), and one of the best life lessons I ever learned came from him. He says "It's not just good, it's good enough." Having something that's "good enough" that you actually put on the page is better than searching endlessly for something "good" and never writing your story.

@sleepdeep305

Жыл бұрын

Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. That’s a phrase city planner plays uses a lot.

@blokvader8283

9 ай бұрын

Just had an audible gasp, I fucking love Adam, glad to see fellow fans anywhere I can C:

„We use names to tell characters appart” Or you can turn that on its head to make a bigger point. Gabriel García Márquez did that with „One hundred years of solitude”.

Me: **Stares at JK Rowling with names like Greengrass, Clearwater, Longbottom**

@nicholauscrawford7903

3 ай бұрын

Paul Greengrass is an actual person's name. He's a movie director.

@user-xg4fg1cg9z

2 ай бұрын

And Shakespeare naming flute, bottom,snout,cobweb and mustardseed.

I don't know if this is a common strategy, but what I usually do for my characters is to get words that fit the character names, then try approximate it into a legit-sounding name. Like for example, a character that is more plant-based can use "patch of grass" and "tree" to get "Patri", then approximated to "Patrick". So far, it works very well for my use case.

@chesspiece4257

6 ай бұрын

i do that a lot too! sometimes i get too attached to the nouns tho

@nicholauscrawford7903

3 ай бұрын

Not to mention St. Patrick being associated with green!

I think my favorite naming convention is currently the ASOIAF naming convention that George RR Martin uses. Just taking real names and tweaking them a bit. I like his quote from one interview "I think a lot of fantasy names are just too much, they're too long, goofy and hard to pronounce. I wanted realism."

@freddiepage6162

8 ай бұрын

Then go full Targaryan with Daemon, Daeron, Aemon, and Aegon, Eddard, Rickard, Rickon, Dickon

@FauxReal.

8 ай бұрын

Eddard, jon, Sansa, robb, rickon, bran,

@evalationx2649

8 ай бұрын

@@FauxReal. Yes, those are some of the character names. Thanks.

@evalationx2649

8 ай бұрын

@@freddiepage6162 None of them are hard to pronounce.

@ROMANTIKILLER2

4 ай бұрын

@@freddiepage6162 I appreciate that Targaryan name being peculiar was part of the characterization, but I must confess I often found myself mixing them up.

I am researching about world building to create a world where I can do and create whatever I want, where all of it connects. I'm doing this for myself. Not for a novel. Just for my own enjoyment and satisfaction. I just want to create and design characters who are unique with deep backgrounds. I'm not much of an author so this is really helpful, thank you.

@cailin5301

Жыл бұрын

I am much the same way. I make up stories at night to help me go to sleep. I enjoy creating characters for RPGs or for my stories. I have found over the years that I don't have many actually good ideas that would work for writing a novel, and I don't even have the commitment to write a story for Wattpad. But coming up with random things is just fun, even if it's never good enough to share with anyone.

@Donika691

6 ай бұрын

I've always had a hard time actually writing anything, but creating characters and world building is what I find easy to do, and I love doing it. World building and character creation are what I would say is my passion, not so much the actual writing part. I would love to see my world and characters in an actual completed story project, but I'm not good at actually doing that part, or committing to it. I definitely have that world building "disease". I just love creating the lore and the characters.

@fuabtreter7302

5 ай бұрын

Yes! If I wrote an actual story than people would have to die, there would need to be conflict, maybe even a war, why can't I just spend my time working out how the leaves of this one fantasy tree look like? I swear it's important!

@losrin5447

2 ай бұрын

Yes! I worldbuild so I can have stories of thousands of individuals, happy and tragic and anything in between. I think about writing but at the end of the day it’s not why I worldbuild literally worldbuilding for worldbuilding’s sake because it’s a hobby

There is one caveat to the whole 'new first letter for each character name'. You don't want the *ending* of the name to be the same. Harry, Hubert, Hilton, and Himmelsdorf aren't that hard to distinguish but Harry, Larry, and Barry can be. I don't remember the name of the book, but I know there's a book out there where all the main characters started with C, (It might have even been 'every female character starts with C' but I read about it like, five years ago and forget lol) and what distinguished them was the fact the endings of their names were different. Heck, one of my very awful, unfinished, first drafts of a novel attempt I had one character named Lucy and one character named...Cassy I think and the people who read the few chapters I've had written had problems keeping them straight.

@JaneXemylixa

7 ай бұрын

That's really cool. There's almost definitely a name for this in linguistics

@JhadeSagrav

4 ай бұрын

great advice! thanks! i had two guys' names ending in -ius and noticed that. Changed one to -ian and boom. problem solved.

@5peciesunkn0wn

4 ай бұрын

@@JhadeSagrav you're welcome! Always fun to see random advice given in some random comment section is still being read lol

A note on basing names on external meanings such as cultural or literary affiliations: in most cases, these are going to be easter eggs that a varying number of readers might uncover or already be familiar with. As you say, don't *expect* the reader to just intuit them - at least not without a lot of clues on your part.

@rikusauske

Жыл бұрын

I once named a carechter Judas, worried it was going to be on the nose, and then my party decides that "nah we can trust this guy" only to be shocked that he betrayed them

Not a writer, but i am a GM in TTRPGs so i come up with character names often. This video gives excellent advice, and i would like to offer one of my own as well: if you want a character to have a long and complex name, go for it, but make sure there is a very easy and intuitive way to nickname them, and then use those most of the time. People respond very well to nicknames and it helps endear a character to your players/readers, plus, it can add to a dramatic moment when others use their full name all of a sudden. Edit: ok, upon reading comments i see my advice was already given. Good to see i wasn’t the only one who thought it was a good idea. Consider my comment as further evidence their advice was good :P

@lotharrenz4621

8 ай бұрын

a friend of mine used to have a gnome character named Isokeh. the story behind it was that the character got asked for his name, which was really long, and suddenly someone who had asked was annoyed and bored, and waved it off, saying "it's okay!". so the character realized "Isokeh" is a great abbreviation of his overly long, albeit traditional and meaningful, name.

What I really like to do when creating names is to think of a word that has something to do with the idea of the character, then put it into a website that shows that word in a bunch of different languages. Then I scroll through them and pick one that looks like it would make for a good name. Sometimes I add or remove a couple letters, or combine two words, or make little alterations like that. I try not to use languages commonly spoken in America, for obvious reasons. Of course I usually only need to come up with names for single characters at a time, as the only context I usually name characters is as a D&D player. But I have gotten good results with it so far. My favorite is probably the goblin wizard “Kragsnaga the Powerful” which roughly translates to “power power the powerful”.

@jasonreed7522

9 ай бұрын

"power power the powerful" You sound like a colonizer naming a river by asking what the locals call that and pointing at a river. Being told "river" in the native tounge, and then writing it down. So many rivers are actually just "The River river" when fully translated into one language. (The UK has about 9 River Avons, avon means river. The Connecticut River in the US is another one.) Apparently its called being "tautological" and wikipedia has a list of place names like this.

@Deoxy81

3 ай бұрын

Power power the powerful lmfao that's great 😂

My next fantasy novel, Kingdom of Dragons, is out now! Check it out here: bit.ly/kingdom-of-dragons

4:55 I will say that sometimes there are exceptions to that. For e.g. the main trio in Harry Potter have two character whose names both begin with "H", have an "R" sound in them, and end with an "ee" sound; Harry and Hermione. Generally, avoid characters with similar names and initials unless the occasion arises where it's just too perfect to pass up.

@johannageisel5390

Жыл бұрын

IMHO the number of syllables makes a big difference.

@_Egon

Жыл бұрын

​@@johannageisel5390also Harry is very common name but Hermione sounds really unique.

@micaelstarfire8639

Жыл бұрын

Another exception would be if you're establishing a cultural naming convention, such as with Vulcans. The characters' names often begin and even end with the same letters, but it also makes their cultural background clear.

@yourmomscrackpipe

11 ай бұрын

ive got characters named Andreas, Astrid, and Adam but they're all siblings based on my own actual siblings.

@WreckItRolfe

Ай бұрын

I think the characters being a different sex helps too

I don't actually write or do much world building, but as someone who has always wondered how it's done, thanks for explaining all that. 14 minutes well spent.

When you have 2 characters names start with the same latter, you can just make sure one got long name and second got a really short one. Like Theodoric and Tom.

I tend to use generators for location names sometimes, but with characters I look up baby names and the meanings. I pick names that you don't see much of or not at all in stories, the names usually fit their personality or back story.

What I find generators are useful for is expanding your repertoire of names. Say you have a not-German character and you don't want to name him Hans, Franz, or Gunther, you can generate 50 random German names and find a bunch you probably didn't know. Then when you go back to make another character from that culture, you can think up way more names than before. On the subject of places, don't be afraid to use geographical or architectural features, if it's English fantasy they'll sound more grounded, and if it isn't you can translate them into another language that sounds like the culture and then vowel shift it a bit so your readers in that language don't get confused by the town called Suckhole.

@jasonreed7522

9 ай бұрын

On the subject of place names, don't be afraid for them to actually be stupid because the real world has long since surpassed your abilities for that. Istanbul = the city Rio Grande = big river Connecticut River = River river (this happens anywhere a colonizer did all the naming: "what do you call that?" *Points at the river*, "Native word for river", "thank you" *writes down 'The native word for river river') The Rocky Mountains....... And so many towns are named after the closest geologic feature. (Lake, River, Waterfall, bay, cape, hill, mountain, ext) Not to mention the number of towns named after people following the format of: Morristown, Jamestown, Hewittville, Raymondville, Grantville, Louisville, ect. Or all the places named after military bases, in the US its Fort X. And the classics of Direction other City/town. And the related New old city name. Basically humans have always been uncreative with naming places. (And England needs its naming rights revoked, without moving on google maps i can see cuckfield, lower bleeding, warninglid, balcombe, wivelsfield, hickstead, copsale, nuthurst, and itchingfield. And considering the pronunciation of Worcester I'm assuming none of these are pronounced how they are spelled)

For one of my godesses I wanted to have a name similar to Makaria (Greek goddess of blessed death). But then I found the name Pele (Hawaiian goddess of volcanos) and I really liked the way it sounded. So I mushed the two names together a few times and sounded the names I had out. I also took a break and came back later to decide with a fresh mind. Now my goddess is named Melera 😊

@a.g.2562

10 ай бұрын

What is she goddess of?

@erisofliria

9 ай бұрын

I like that you came up with a new name lol Pele literally means "skin" in portuguese and "Pelé" is a famous soccer player so for example if I were to read your book and you happen to choose Pele for the name I would associate these things every time I read it

@GamesXanimeX3

8 ай бұрын

@@erisofliria Pensei a mesma coisa XD acho que a pronuncia havaiana deve ser pêlê, não lembro da lingua havaiana ter e aberto

@paperheart23

Ай бұрын

LOL reminds me of Marika from Elden ring

Thank you for reinforcing to everyone that tools are TOOLS! Use whatever can inspire you or give you answers. I used to get stuck on names, but I do exactly what Jed does now and use placeholders! For me, it makes it so much easier to imagine who a character is without having to fight my own preconceived notions of "that name." The one over the top thing I do, though, is I really love meaningful names, that the name implies SOMETHING true about the character- not quite to the point that, "this is the name this character would have given themself if they could" but close.

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

Well said

9:00 It steals work ouright, it based those names it fed you on names it encountered elsewhere.

I enjoy using the method that C. S. Lewis used when he made the name for Narnia! As a kid he was looking at an atlas, and found a town in Italy called Narni, changed it up a little, and called it Narnia! I’ve actually been to Narni before too. You can also take this further by finding countries that speak a language you like the sound of, that can help you come up with names that have a specific sound too!

When it comes to specific linguistics if you're creating names from scratch, typically names are single syllables, trochees (Two syllables, stress on first syllable) or three syllables with the stress on the first syllable.

4:47 important to note that you can ignore this rule, like GRRM does in ASOIAF with many, many characters sharing the same name (I think there's at least 10 different Walder Freys for example)

@derpenz5376

6 ай бұрын

Or all the Targaryens who have the same name or sound similiar: aegon, aemond, aerion ...

I'm new to this channel and I'm currently writing my first novel. I'm currently struggling with some of the points you made. You got my subscription , this has really opened my mind up to the possibilities that I hadn't seen before. I'll definitely check out more of your videos. It's great to be excited about writing again.

When I don’t have a name on hand I write (name here M / F - depends on character’s gender - simple description) EDIT : I have an original character originally introduced being addressed by a code number (3 - U 1)… in my books she’s is a genetic clone of the Skylander Hex, who was created by Kaos to be an evil duplicate of Hex to paint her in a horrible light; after 3 - U 1 was captured and taken as a POW, she was encouraged by her guards to explore herself, and see how she liked being her own person instead of trying to be Hex 2 . 0… once she felt comfortable letting herself be her own person she asked to be given a proper name so Hex named her Jinx (this was BEFORE arcane came out) to show that while they are similar to each other, they are each their own person

One of my favorite ways to come up with names, mainly for places in my fantasy world, is to sit and run through random syllables and sounds in my head and slowly mold something that sounds like it could be a name. I'm doing more along the lines of low fantasy so I'm not super concerned about the linguistics of the world. But once I come up with something that I like, I initially spell it the way it sounds and then try to see how I could spell it in a typical unconventional fantasy way, like instead of a K use a Q without a U after it, or instead of a Y use two i's I also just called my villain "villain" for a whole year of writing until I finally figured out what to call him.

This was excellent video. I liked how you used your own books as examples.

Thanks for the advice, I have been struggling with this issue for a bit and this has truly helped!

Behind The Name is a gem! I've been using it so much and I don't know what I'd do without it. It's a perfect tool to come up with a name for a character with a different ethnicity or nationality than your own for example, as you can sort names by country or culture. My favourite tool is their meaning search function. I can for example put in the word "power", "old", "strong" or something else that defines my character and it will show names which have the meaning of those words. It's amazing if you want a name defining your character without making it a super obvious thing.

12:03 Also very important to watch out for names that might be misinterpreted by readers. You might read George and Jorge as "George" and "Hor-hay," but to someone unfamiliar with Spanish pronunciations, or common Mexican names might read them both as "George." I had turned 40 before I learned the proper pronunciation of Jorge.

@juliab3326

9 ай бұрын

That's exactly why I would include a pronunciation/names guide in my book (which I'm never going to publish). I want to avoid people making up their pronunciation based on their mother tongue or limited knowledge about other cultures. I always find it helpful to know WHERE a name comes from. The name Georg(e) exists in many countries and knowing which country an author refers to would definitely make a difference.

@oz_jones

9 ай бұрын

@@juliab3326 Just write your book using the IPA like a normal person. Wait, I'm the odd one out? Drats.

@dabbinghitlersmemes1762

5 ай бұрын

Heck, even if I thought the author was being fancy I would probably still read "Jorge" as "Yorj" or even "Yorghe"

If the symbolism of a character's name _is_ going to be important, you can always, y'know... mention it in the story. Terry Pratchett certainly doesn't shy away from reminding us of the significance of Tiffany Aching's name, to the point that "Land Under Wave" becomes a really satisfying arc phrase.

Love the complex chatgpt query, Will be adding that to my toolbox!

my personal favorite material for character naming are baby name websites (can easily be found with searches like "(nationality) names that start with (letter)" or "(nationality) (gender) names" even stuff like "japanese girl names that mean death" can lead you to a baby name website

"Don't put the same sound at the beginning of different names" *Sweats in The Last Kingdom*

Bad names are such a peeve of mine. Fantasy names rarely ever work for me, honestly. Like if you take Tolkien and Martin, the name sound just right. They sound realistic for the setting the story takes place in. Most importantly, they sound like REAL names proper to that world. But in most fantasy and scifi it’s literally just sounds or quirky names from OUR reality. Also I’d rather they have a complicated name than a too simple one. I’m reading The Jade City rn and there’s a Kehn, a Tar, a Shon… I cannot tell who’s who.

12:06 Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes had this problem. "Coriolanus" was rarely used in The Hunger Games-- he was always just "President Snow." But in the prequel book, when he doesn't have that honor, seeing that name used so frequently got old fast.

Thank you Jed! I am currently working in the placeholder phase and the tip in how phonetics is used for personality is really useful.

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

I've struggled with names since elementary school, but the nail in the coffin to me coming up with my own names was when I witnessed the holy grail of all names that I will never come close to matching: "Hiro Protagonist" It brings a tear to my eye to this day

@intellectually_lazy

Жыл бұрын

i was inspired by dot warner to come up with a longer name than hers

I know the don't repeat letters rule of thumb, but I actually consciously made three immediate family members all start with the same letter, because it serves as a reminder of their ties and family bond while they serve extremely desperate roles in the story.

@Brick_One_A_Lego_Story

11 ай бұрын

Writing advisors: Don't repeat letters Tolkien: Why not? Feanor, Finrod, Fingon and Fingolfin disagree

@bad-people6510

11 ай бұрын

@@Brick_One_A_Lego_Story Well Tolkien had a few more than 26 characters. It's not a hard and fast rule, no, but it's still a good idea when you can do it.

@Second_Son1990

9 ай бұрын

I love it. I’m one of six kids, and our parents gave us all names that start with ‘J’ so I absolutely support this! I think it’s easier to get away with doing this when you’re writing with family members because they will all essentially orbit each others lives (even estranged siblings), thus they aren’t as easily lost in the shuffle of storytelling.

Placeholders is an amazing bit of advice, I do the same and it really keeps the momentum of writing going.

Whenever I get stuck, I like to grab a handful of scrabble letters and rearrange them into something that sounds pronounceable

I write mostly Urban Fantasy. I don't dwell on the names too much. Most of my characters have common names or something I just make up on the spot. I've only struggled with naming my superhero group for my comic book. I still haven't came up with it after years.

@johannageisel5390

Жыл бұрын

What would you say are the defining traits of the group? And what superheroes are members?

@actualturtle2421

Жыл бұрын

Reframe it as a band name, and think of things that would sound dope if you saw it on an album cover.

For every project I keep two A to z lists. One for given names (one entry for male and one entry for female) and one for surnames (limits 2 per letter if I can). Plus I have a master list of character names that I keep so I don’t use them in other stories. And yes it’s very helpful to google names you’ve already picked. I had a name to one character because I thought it had a nice ring to it and I could shorten it too for other characters who knew him more intimately. Turns out it had a ring to it because, when I googled it, it turned out to be the name of a famous murder victim. So my name search continued

@emdove

4 ай бұрын

As an avid viewer of true crime, the urge to try and guess the name is strong right now.

Awesome video Jed! This is something that I've always struggled with when coming up for different character names in RPGs, and these tips genuinely help me out. I also like how you mentioned using random name generators as a tool to pick and choose what names stick out, rather than admonishing the practice for being "lazy" or "unoriginal".

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

Glad to help!

Thank you for these helpful tipps. I'll go and take a long, hard look at my character names now^^

4:45 when I was in middle school I read a Chinese children's book, that in the first three chapters introduces the characters Hu, Wu, Fu, and Xu. It wasn't until I was very confused about why the protagonist didn't recognize his teacher that I realized there were 4 separate people.

@sweaterweatherlady

Жыл бұрын

Is it "The Five Chinese Brothers?" That was the first to came to mind.

@josephschubert6561

Жыл бұрын

@@sweaterweatherlady no, it was called something like, "the _____ journey of prince ___” I think that first adjective was "extraordinary" or similar, but I forget the name of the prince. (I might have messed up one of the other names too.) None of the characters were related to each other so it's not like the rhyming was a joke. Also, I don't think the story was a traditional Chinese story. I think it was just written in a Chinese setting.

@josephschubert6561

Жыл бұрын

@@sweaterweatherlady "The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen." By Lloyd Alexander. (So not traditional itself.) And to prove my point on how confusing the names were, there was 5 instead of 4 and no one was "Xu." They were Master Hu, Master Wu, Master Fu, Master Shu, and Master Chu.

@JesterQueenAnne

Жыл бұрын

@@josephschubert6561 at first I thought "oh it's just an unfortunate part of translation, those were probably easily recognizable in Chinese since they're written as single distinct characters" but if the book wasn't originally in Chinese then idk what the author was thinking.

Right now I'm doing worldbuilding and this video came on right time! Thanks!

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

Glad I could help!

Normally, I inmediately zone out whenever I look for tips and someone just starts talking about their own work. This time I decided to stick around and was pleasantly surprised with really good tips, thanks!.

Thank you for some great tips! Im having huge difficulties getting my writing started due to things like this, plotting the story and so on.

I remember this one time I made a story for schoolwork, and I genuinely spent a long time coming up with names, I had a naming scheme the 4 main were based of the 4 elements. I went through multiple sites looking for synonyms and myths for fire, water, air and earth. I mean I already know the name of the main character which I tend to base on myself. But really the best way to find names for me is to have their names be based on who they are as a person. Some of my favorites are Zephyr and Gale which are both synonyms for Wind. The issue with a lot of these synonyms which I found is that they tend to be rather masculine in nature, which you can often remedy by changing the ending. For example I had a character in WoW which I based around toxicity and that kind of stuff, and I named her Venorin, which is Venom with the feminine in on it, it works with Virulent too, being Virulin. But really the best course of action is to make the name unique but not too complicated, also my opinion tho is if you like the name then you're fine.

I am doing the exact opposite actually, I have most of the worldbuilding, the raw concepts at least, and I am currently focusing on writing the entire story down, with all the characters, subplots and grand adventures, and then I will set the draft side, finally flesh out the worldbuilding and then rewrite the story with all the new details and feedback received and so on. What do you guys think?

@ratatoskrnuts6354

Жыл бұрын

Everybody has their own methods that work, and this one seems reasonable to me.

@greenguy369

10 ай бұрын

Seems fairly close to the Zero Draft concept...A technique more popular among discovery writers or hybrid outliner/discovery writers. It works well for lots of people. You should be alright if it's working for you, too.

I needed this bro. I was playing a game with my sister and was trying to think of a name for something and I need this so much l thanks my man 🙏

Thanks, this looks like it's gonna help a lot and I have had a lot of problems with this

This is great and I learned a bit from this video. One thing, the example that your character's name is Valanor, that name is really similar to Valinor (the land of the Valar) in LOTR, probably for the same reason. Maybe that's not a bad thing, however, later you mention that you look for names that are popular. Maybe one thing we can do is check for different yet similar spellings?

for the annoying name part Grand admiral Thrawn is such a great example and i just realised it. His name is originally Mith'raw'nuruodo, but his ppl use only Thrawn as it has the first parts last couple letters so they know which family he is from and use the middle part which is basicly your individual name and the last part is a name given as a great honour for doing a great thing. All that thing with an exotic name and still you can make it sort and simple with an explonation for the simple name in universe

@fist-of-doom487

10 ай бұрын

In Warhammer theirs an Alien Race that’s used as Comedic relief but are the type of humor that comes from Hyper Violence. They’re called the Orks because they’re literally Orks, take everything you know about Orks, combined them with Mad Max and Soccer Hooligans and you have the Orks in a Nutshell. Their whole thing is that names are only for Orks that are important. You have to do something worthy of a name and even then the names are humorously on the nose. Examples are Mekboss da Meklord, Da Red Gobbo, Tuska da Demon-Killa, Mad Doc, Biter-that-bites-the face-of-the-face-biter, Zog Ironteef. Right away the names establishes that they’re weird, kinda stupid, and you get a good idea what they’re about and what their gimmick is, you also know from the context of their culture that they’re kind of a big deal if they have a name at all.

Using nicknames in the story is also a great way to circumvent the negatives of having names that are mouthfuls. Example: Danaerys in ASoIaF, although not a super complex name on its own, definitely benefits a lot from being shorted most of the time to just "Dany."

My most favourite is the asoiaf names. From charecters to dragons, kingdoms to swords every name feels so epic.

In my personal writing I have found a very interesting way to come up with names for my characters. Because most of my characters have an elemental power and come from the same sort of background being a sort of Nordic fantasy. I just look up the words for the characters elemental power in that language. For example: my main character uses a mix of lightning and ice powers so I looked up some of the things related to ice in Norse mythology and found Skaði: goddes of bow hunting, winter, snow, and mountains. Combining this with the god of lightning and thunder Thor, my main characters last name became Skathor. I still have my doubts about this naming method sometimes, but it’s served me well. The best thing I have to say about it is often it take five or so minutes to find a name I’m happy with. If anyone wants to use it have fun.

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

Skathor is a sick name. Thanks for sharing

You say that you shouldn't have two names start with the same letter. Meanwhile in ASOIAF there is Jon Arryn, Jon Snow, Jon Connington, Jon Umber, another Jon Umber

What I do is I use sounds that I associate with different aspects of personality traits I have in order to reflect those traits in a character

I know this is a slightly different media being a light novel from the east. But Goblin Slayer is a great example of what he mentions here. The author of Goblin Slayer used very basic placeholder names so he could focus on everything else, and in the end he just kept those placeholder names as he found that the names of the characters didn't matter as much compared to the rest. We have, obviously, Goblin Slayer and his friends, Priestess, High Elf Archer, etc. It's incredible that he wrote this series of novels never deciding on names and it still blew up because of just how wonderful his world was! Names are important, but it is very important not to get hung up on them when working on your Fantasy worlds, games, novels, etc. This was incredibly helpful, and I love your work! It's inspired me to pick up the pen, as I have wanted to write forever but never felt an inspiration or motivation to start until now! Thank you!

Another thing to reflect upon is how most names have multiple variations (even invented ones) which can go a long ways towards reflecting upon the relationships with the characters using them. As an example, one of my principal characters is Draxtherion Carthas Hawkwind III: ~ Even among his closest relationships, only a select few are allowed the privilege of calling him "Drax" (though some of these will call him "Draxtherion" as a way to express their displeasure with something he's done) ~ In most casual circumstances, those whom he considers trusted friends call him "Draxtherion" ~ In more formal situations, or to anyone he doesn't consider a friend, he is addressed as "Lord Hawkwind" or simply "Hawkwind" ~ Anyone unfortunate enough to incur his ire calls him "Lord Draxtherion Hawkwind" if they value their lives One of his wives (long story in and of itself) is Bontania Celestia Moonshadow: ~ Only her partners (her husband and fellow wife) address her as "Tani"; even then, only in reasonably private circumstances ~ Only in casual circumstances do even her friends address her as "Bontania" ~ In all other circumstances, she is "Lady Moonshadow" - even to one of her closest friends who, despite their friendship (and calling her husband "Drax"), would never consider themselves to be in the same social class As a real-world example, consider John F and Jacqueline Kennedy: ~ Among themselves and close friends, they were "Jack" and "Jackie" (fans also referred to them as such, but never in their presence) ~ In formal circumstances, they were "Mr President"/"President Kennedy" and "Mrs Kennedy" ~ In most other circumstances, they were addressed as "John and Jacqueline Kennedy" or "Mr and Mrs Kennedy" This should hopefully illuminate how variations on a character's name can do a great deal to convey indirect information about that person and their relationship(s) with others.

2:36 "Obviously, you can take that way too far and create names that are much too on the nose or too obvious. You do need a degree of suptlety here." Meanwhile in Britain: "Torpenhow Hill", literally "Hill-hill-hill Hill"

And their names are combined, using basically always name-surname with no middle names or surnames. Usually 2 or 3 syllables per name and a monosyllable for surname. Fughi-Tai, Girene-Bau, Mitalu-Nei, Kubere-Kah, etc.

Half of the character names in my book started as anagrams of the title, then I evolved them into nicknames or just use their first names so the reader hardly notices the anagrams for the rest of the book. Ewen (Sir Ewen d'Soth), Theo (Sir Theos Dewn), Hes (Heswin Dorest), Seth (Seth Serodwin), even the first town they're in (New Sterhodis). There's also paired names like Esther & Wodin, and Rose & This Dewn. Just my thing, was only going to be one character then I got bored and made a bunch more names out of anagrams I though of.

I guess I need to rename my main character, his name was going to be Adolf but google had some unflatering things to say.

I have taken inspiration for names from astronomical star names (JK Rowling beat me to Bellatrix, though), scientific names of plants and generic names of drugs - sometimes used straight and sometimes mashed around. Anagrams also work. I wanted a name for a minor character who was a codebreaker, so I took the name Vigenere, then mashed it around, changed some letters and came up with Gerevain.

@intellectually_lazy

Жыл бұрын

not to mention tim burton

Naming characters is my fave thing to do!

Great video. Very helpful. Thank you

I love fantasy name generator all of my characters names, places, world- literally everything was from fantasy name generator.

@MsBluebot

Жыл бұрын

That website is amazing there’s so many options

Late to the party, but who cares. It's a great advice video. I'm very much pro random generators. I will let one generate me a couple dozen names, find one that I like, and alter it. I will replace a letter with a different one, shift letters around, until I get something I like. It's not generated anymore, it's my original name, but the basis helps me get something to work it. Also, I do use AI generated images to help me visualise things - I won't put the images in my novel, obviously, but it's easier to describe something when I've got it right in front of me. It also helps with consistency.

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

I do the same with random stuff - using it as a basis point and then tweaking small details is a great idea

thanks for this video it help me get out the wordbuilding loop ^^

Always a great day when you upload bro, thank you for your words of encouragement and kindness! Needed this one today! Really liking the graphic card that was used throughout this edit!

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

Cheers Rolando! Always a good day when I get a comment from Mr Jay himself :D

@Jed_Herne

Жыл бұрын

Graphic card was all on canva btw