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butterflydreamingPicked up from all the right people to know...
My journal is called _____ because _____.
My subtitle is _____ because _____.
My friends page is called _____ because _____.
My username is ____ because _____.
My default userpic is _____ because _____.
My name is listed as _____ because _____.
My journal is called "Just suppose...", because speculation and wonder are my favorite things. My subtitle is "because anything can happen" because -- anything can happen. I'm not exactly a stable person, nor is this journal exclusively about writing. And to say that anything can happen, well, that's sort of hopeful, isn't it? And it means that the future is unknown; I don't believe in an unchangeable fate or destiny.
My friends page is called "Keeping Tabs on..." because I add anyone who I find interesting. I like to know what is going on with people's lives. And I read all the posts.
My user name is "butterflydreaming". (A butterfly that is dreaming, rather than dreams of a butterfly: butterfly, dreaming.) A lot of you already know why. Somewhere along the line I heard the story about the man who had a vivid dream of being a butterfly, and when he woke, he wondered -- was he a man, who had dreamt of being a butterfly, or a butterfly, now dreaming it was a man? No else seemed to have heard this story but me, until I started watching anime (and then it was ref'd everywhere). I suppose it's because the philosopher from which it came was Chinese. I myself, have always been a daydreamer, and when I dream at night, I dream of stories. (It's often like shutting my eyes and watching a movie.) I feel the unreality of my life, and the vividness of story. I play with the idea of "real" life being one more story, one more dream.
Butterflies (like dreams) are loaded with symbolism in all cultures. And my names, first middle and last, have connections to the butterfly concept. Also, my nick & pen name is intentionally all lower case, even when lowercase isn't the default. Capitalization is for proper names, and Things of Significance, not for the subtle passing of a butterfly's dream.
My default userpic is currently NaNo 2004, since this was my first try at NaNoWriMo. I even changed the layout for the month, (and my email password, heh) to keep that foremost in my mind. I liked the image of the Gibson Girl on the Remington because it's from another time, and I love all the anachronisms.
My name is listed as "butterflydreaming, Someday Storyteller" because Someday, I would like to be able to call myself a storyteller. A writer can write anything; an author is just someone who has written something; a storyteller is someone who has created something that has a life of its own.
. . .
So one of the first things one must do when putting a story together is to name the characters. Where do names come from?
Riddle, the cat that is more than a mere cat, states (in my short story) that it is the role of humans to be the Namers of things. We humans, for what we can tell, are the only creatures on earth that have a language based on words; in every culture, we have named the world around us, as well as ourselves. ("What do you call yourselves?" asks the explorer to the natives of his newly discovered land. The chief replies with bewilderment at the ridiculousness of the question. "People," he answers. The explorer hears the native's word for "people" and writes the sounds for it down in his travel journal.)
Even in fanfiction, a writer will have occasion to choose names. There will be the canon names for the characters and places, but which ones do you choose? Is Clow "the sorcerer", "the magician", or the "Master"? And is it "master" or "Master"? A difference of capitalization can be very significant. "Read", or "Reed"? That's what got me started on this musing to begin with. Think of the difference in a single letter, a to e. "Read", a word of action (a verb) but a passive activity. "Reed", an uncommon thing in the modern world (a noun), a plant growing in water. But a reed is also a very important part of any wind instrument. Or, more aptly, a reed is a type of pen, like a quill, but made from the hollow reed shaft. As a pen, "Reed" becomes an active word, and related to an active activity -- writing. Writing is a form of creation, and Clow is a sorcerer defined by his creations.
With thoughts like that, of course I would be attracted to Card Captor Sakura, with it's plethora of flower names and moon derivative names. Kero's name is even significant. When Sakura nicks it down to "Kero-chan", she picks her own name for him, diminuative and much less scary than Keroberos (Cerberus). And, funny enough, a frog (kero) is a more typical Western familiar for a witch. Yukito's name is written like "bunny" (or rabbit), and he's sort of the rabbit-in-the-moon. (For anyone bothering to read this who isn't familiar with CCS, Yukito is a guise for Clow's creation Yue, who's name means "moon".)
But how to original characters aquire a name? One of the signs of a Mary Sue is that the character is named with a variation of the writer's name. But those aside, where do the names come from? Sometimes, for me, the names come full blown, like Athena, from my head. Mostly, I get just a first name, and as the character developes, I "find" the rest. Even when I don't intend it, my character names come loaded with symbolism, because for me, every word is a shorthand for a much fuller meaning. I write poetry; this integral to the workings of my mind. Take Rue, for example, the vampire who raises worms. (Oh, you haven't read that?) I was going to call her Ruby, because I've always liked that name and I've been looking for somewhere to use it. But it became shortened, "Ru" becoming "Rue", which works much better. There is the meaning of being regretful of something, and the earthiness of an herbal name. Plus, rue lacks the feminity (and beauty) of ruby, and Rue is a tough, not completely likeable person.
And speaking of non entirely likeable vampire women...
There's Mercy, my NaNo protagonist, who I'm avoiding right now. {hides} (She'll get her teeth into me later, don't worry.) Mercy's name is full of irony, you can imagine. It's short for Mercedes, which also means mercy (mercies, actually), and a very oblique reference to the Spanish word murcielago, which means... bat. (I may or may not use that anywhere. It seems kind of geeky.) I've been fascinated for a long time with virtue names, like Faith, Hope, and Prudence. Strangely enough, without thinking about it, most of my male character names for my NaNo have ended up being biblical names: Gabriel, James, Matthew. The other females, so far, have been named after women/girls that I know.
So where do you find your character names?
My journal is called _____ because _____.
My subtitle is _____ because _____.
My friends page is called _____ because _____.
My username is ____ because _____.
My default userpic is _____ because _____.
My name is listed as _____ because _____.
My journal is called "Just suppose...", because speculation and wonder are my favorite things. My subtitle is "because anything can happen" because -- anything can happen. I'm not exactly a stable person, nor is this journal exclusively about writing. And to say that anything can happen, well, that's sort of hopeful, isn't it? And it means that the future is unknown; I don't believe in an unchangeable fate or destiny.
My friends page is called "Keeping Tabs on..." because I add anyone who I find interesting. I like to know what is going on with people's lives. And I read all the posts.
My user name is "butterflydreaming". (A butterfly that is dreaming, rather than dreams of a butterfly: butterfly, dreaming.) A lot of you already know why. Somewhere along the line I heard the story about the man who had a vivid dream of being a butterfly, and when he woke, he wondered -- was he a man, who had dreamt of being a butterfly, or a butterfly, now dreaming it was a man? No else seemed to have heard this story but me, until I started watching anime (and then it was ref'd everywhere). I suppose it's because the philosopher from which it came was Chinese. I myself, have always been a daydreamer, and when I dream at night, I dream of stories. (It's often like shutting my eyes and watching a movie.) I feel the unreality of my life, and the vividness of story. I play with the idea of "real" life being one more story, one more dream.
Butterflies (like dreams) are loaded with symbolism in all cultures. And my names, first middle and last, have connections to the butterfly concept. Also, my nick & pen name is intentionally all lower case, even when lowercase isn't the default. Capitalization is for proper names, and Things of Significance, not for the subtle passing of a butterfly's dream.
My default userpic is currently NaNo 2004, since this was my first try at NaNoWriMo. I even changed the layout for the month, (and my email password, heh) to keep that foremost in my mind. I liked the image of the Gibson Girl on the Remington because it's from another time, and I love all the anachronisms.
My name is listed as "butterflydreaming, Someday Storyteller" because Someday, I would like to be able to call myself a storyteller. A writer can write anything; an author is just someone who has written something; a storyteller is someone who has created something that has a life of its own.
. . .
So one of the first things one must do when putting a story together is to name the characters. Where do names come from?
Riddle, the cat that is more than a mere cat, states (in my short story) that it is the role of humans to be the Namers of things. We humans, for what we can tell, are the only creatures on earth that have a language based on words; in every culture, we have named the world around us, as well as ourselves. ("What do you call yourselves?" asks the explorer to the natives of his newly discovered land. The chief replies with bewilderment at the ridiculousness of the question. "People," he answers. The explorer hears the native's word for "people" and writes the sounds for it down in his travel journal.)
Even in fanfiction, a writer will have occasion to choose names. There will be the canon names for the characters and places, but which ones do you choose? Is Clow "the sorcerer", "the magician", or the "Master"? And is it "master" or "Master"? A difference of capitalization can be very significant. "Read", or "Reed"? That's what got me started on this musing to begin with. Think of the difference in a single letter, a to e. "Read", a word of action (a verb) but a passive activity. "Reed", an uncommon thing in the modern world (a noun), a plant growing in water. But a reed is also a very important part of any wind instrument. Or, more aptly, a reed is a type of pen, like a quill, but made from the hollow reed shaft. As a pen, "Reed" becomes an active word, and related to an active activity -- writing. Writing is a form of creation, and Clow is a sorcerer defined by his creations.
With thoughts like that, of course I would be attracted to Card Captor Sakura, with it's plethora of flower names and moon derivative names. Kero's name is even significant. When Sakura nicks it down to "Kero-chan", she picks her own name for him, diminuative and much less scary than Keroberos (Cerberus). And, funny enough, a frog (kero) is a more typical Western familiar for a witch. Yukito's name is written like "bunny" (or rabbit), and he's sort of the rabbit-in-the-moon. (For anyone bothering to read this who isn't familiar with CCS, Yukito is a guise for Clow's creation Yue, who's name means "moon".)
But how to original characters aquire a name? One of the signs of a Mary Sue is that the character is named with a variation of the writer's name. But those aside, where do the names come from? Sometimes, for me, the names come full blown, like Athena, from my head. Mostly, I get just a first name, and as the character developes, I "find" the rest. Even when I don't intend it, my character names come loaded with symbolism, because for me, every word is a shorthand for a much fuller meaning. I write poetry; this integral to the workings of my mind. Take Rue, for example, the vampire who raises worms. (Oh, you haven't read that?) I was going to call her Ruby, because I've always liked that name and I've been looking for somewhere to use it. But it became shortened, "Ru" becoming "Rue", which works much better. There is the meaning of being regretful of something, and the earthiness of an herbal name. Plus, rue lacks the feminity (and beauty) of ruby, and Rue is a tough, not completely likeable person.
And speaking of non entirely likeable vampire women...
There's Mercy, my NaNo protagonist, who I'm avoiding right now. {hides} (She'll get her teeth into me later, don't worry.) Mercy's name is full of irony, you can imagine. It's short for Mercedes, which also means mercy (mercies, actually), and a very oblique reference to the Spanish word murcielago, which means... bat. (I may or may not use that anywhere. It seems kind of geeky.) I've been fascinated for a long time with virtue names, like Faith, Hope, and Prudence. Strangely enough, without thinking about it, most of my male character names for my NaNo have ended up being biblical names: Gabriel, James, Matthew. The other females, so far, have been named after women/girls that I know.
So where do you find your character names?
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no subject
Date: 2004-11-22 12:16 am (UTC)Jackerly Arsdale, my sci-fi character, began as Jack. She also began as male, but a paragraph in I realized she was in fact a she. But she was still Jack, so her name grew up around it. Merilan Danfell is a direct contrast; a much more feminine name for a much more feminine character.
Lin Sel and Lin Rel, my NaNo protagonists, were just syllables that came into my head when I wanted something to mean 'Star Dome and Star Foam'. Phonetics are fun.
Often, my names grow up around the characters--Adam&Antoine, with their not-quite-cliche names, Jackerly with her androgynous engineering soldier self--but usually they are a collection of sounds that I find appealing, and that seemed to fit. They almost all have a meaning or story, but the one true criteria is this: Once I think of their name, they cannot be named anything else. It fits them inextricably.
Odd mental process.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-22 01:02 am (UTC)There are also the characters who are named something because it's a convoluted reference. "Ichiro Onosaka" is one example, with "Masaya Onosaka" being the voice actor for CCS's Big-Cerberus, and "Ichiro Mihara" being one of his roles from Angelic Layer. Other than that, there's no real special meaning.
And then there are the not-so-obscure references... "Sana Andou" was supposed to be a one-time cameo in Tomodachi, but if I could rewrite that part, I wouldn't have chosen something consciously ripped out of Mahoromatic.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-22 04:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-22 10:37 am (UTC)For the original fiction I want to do, I'll use these names.
Megan Doyle. I came up with Megan because I think it's a pretty name. I know there are a lot of spellings for that one, but I took the simplest as I'll be writing the story in Spanish and I don't need the readers to be confused. Doyle from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
William McGregor. I needed a Scottish-sounding name. I've always loved William, and I took McGregor, not for the hot actor, but because I looked over old Scottish clans, and I liked how that one sounded with Will.
Randy Jenkins. This is the know-it-all, wise wizard, so I wanted a really British name for him. I took the names from a encyclopedia, and it kind of fitted.
Guillah: this is the magical pet. I parted from Gaia and started changing and adding letters to it. Is this fitting for the Lock Ness monster?
The twins, Kin and Diana. Kin is a nickname and I took it from a solar god in mayan or aztec myths. His wizard name is Phoebus, and he has a sun-shaped birthmark in the back of his hand. His sister's name came from Lady Di, but also because Diana in roman myths is Phoebus' twin. Her witch name is, of course, Artemis. Yeah, I know I'm messing up with Greek/Roman. I just didn't want to use Apollo on Kin, won't fit.
And there are other names for secondary characters, like Jenny (it was random), Adam and Eric (I liked those two).
no subject
Date: 2004-11-22 11:50 am (UTC)Still, I do consciously look for the names of secondary characters. Sometimes I use variations of old-fashioned names (name dictionaries are my friends!) or words in native languages from the South of Argentina (especially for people related to forests and nature in general, since I relate them to the names of places in Bariloche).
The only situation where I get to use "regular" names is Harry Potter fanfic, and that's tricky; since JKR gives most names a meaning, I'm tempted to do so too, and sometimes it's difficult not to overdo it. I like the more obscure references, though- my favourite JKR name is Alastor Moody. ^_^ (And though everyone gets the "Moody" part, I'm not sure how many people know about Zeus as "Alastor".) I've settled for using common names for young people, and saving the references for older wizards and witches. The closest I got to giving a younger character a name with meaning was calling Remus's sister Sabina, to keep with the "origins of Rome" (and "losers"...) pattern. But I'm not sure how many people got that. :(
*reads about the butterflies*
Date: 2004-11-22 07:19 pm (UTC)murcielago
Date: 2004-11-22 07:20 pm (UTC)