Character Naming

As an Author naming your Character is an important step right after coming up with the plot. I am here to help you choose the right character name for you and your story.

Make sure your character name is Genre Appropriate. Make sure if it's a Historical Fiction novel or takes place in a real time period that the name was used then. Or if it's a fictionalized place then you can be as creative as you wish.

Just have fun with naming your character. It is after all your story.



Thursday, September 10, 2015

Musings of a Lonely Writer! ----- Minimalist Intimate Scenes Between Characters Mortify Me

So I don’t read romances, well not hard core Bodice Rippers or Erotica. I read Suspenseful Romances like from authors Victoria Holt, Phyllis A. Whitney, and some by Dorothy Eden. I prefer a little light romance, nothing explicitly sexual.

These explicitly sexual kinds of novels make me squirm and I find them not to my taste. I don’t care if people read these kinds of stories if that’s what they like to read but I don’t find them appropriate and so I don’t read them nor do I write them.

So in my writing love stories are always subplots and as fun as they are to develop I cringe at the thought of people I know reading them, lol! I know it sounds silly but I fear either I went too far or not enough. I’m afraid they’ll be like what is going on with you for writing these scenes. The scenes aren’t explicit, just what may be deemed adolescent kissing, well maybe a bit more passionate but nothing too hot and heavy.

I even wanted to put an example here of a scene but I am beyond nervous that many I know will see it. I know when I self-publish they’ll read it but I am just mortified to imagine there’re reactions.

There was one scene I was writing how this guy was falling for a lady and what it felt like with her in his arms when he carried her to her room as she had twisted her ankle and when my mom read it I nearly freaked out. The intense description of his feelings was a bit too much; I wound up revising it by choice.

Other times I fear my writing of minimalist intimate scenes are juvenile like. So most of the time I worry how it will be perceived by a broad group of people versus my own feelings toward it.

There was one section of one of my novels I sent to a friend. In the scene there is one area where it is where a guy was rubbing a healing lotion on a woman’s back and I was freaking out when I knew I had sent that section. Of course my friend came back and said she liked the whole section I had sent. So I was beyond happy but I dared not ask what she thought about that particular scene. I fear I am over thinking it and freaking myself out, lol!

Even though these scenes are scarce I wonder if I do too much in a scene or too little. I wonder if people will think if too much in a scene I’m not sticking clean and Christian or if not enough in a scene I risk the scene falling flat and boring.

Of course I love a good swoon worthy intimate scene if placed right and is meant to be there, so I don’t see changing my writing in that regard and will just have to get used to others reactions to the scenes. I will never go too far though with characters in these scenes because of the age group I tend to gear my novels toward and even though I know those age groups know much more about intense intimate relationships than some think I prefer to stay light for my own sake, lol. I should mention though that I know how to take criticism, I am just so unsure on these particular scenes more than any other aspect of my writing.

I suppose some writers have similar areas in their novels where they are uncomfortable with others reading it, so I guess I am not alone in that aspect. And I suppose many writers have times where they start to down their own writing.

I was mentioning this with my writer friend Kendra and she was saying don't worry how others view my novels, just write what I am comfortable with and feel I like. I am trying to do just that but it's a tad difficult with some parts of my writing.

So if others have felt a bit uncomfortable or straight up mortified by minimalist intimate scenes between their characters leave a comment. Or perhaps if you feel certain stories or scenes you write you worry about how it will be perceived by friends and family let me know as well. I would love to hear of other writers experiences with this topic.

So this has been Musings of a Lonely Writer and until next time Keep Reading, Keep Writing, and Keep Inspiring!

Throw Back Plus Current Pictures!

I usually don’t add pictures of me or my friends, well not full pictures just images for my hair accessories on my other Book Worm Blog. These are both a Then & Now Pictures of me and one of my fellow Author Friends, Kendra. Kendra is not my only writer friend but she is my oldest. We met when were teenagers, about 13 years ago.

We bonded over writing and to this day we have innovative, juicy and fun stories, both inside and outside our heads, lol! We both have stories only thought out in our heads and others we have put on the page. Both ways are fun and keep the creative juices flowing!  

So here is a picture of us then and now. The first is from July 2007 when we were 19 years old and the second from yesterday, we are now 27 years old. We have developed wrinkles and our weight has fluctuated over the years but that is simple because we laugh a lot and love food, well I will speak for myself, and we laugh while eating, so there you go, lol.

We talked of many things on our recent lunch out together but writing was a big one so I thought to add a wonderful picture here and show off two awesome up and coming authors, well hopefully!

We have changed in both our personal and writing lives since the Then picture from 2007 which has shaped the tone of our stories, both the good, bad, and ugly elements. So in the Then we were so confident, we knew just what we wanted but the Now we are wiser and have reached a pretty good place in our lives and have created characters much more developed and wonderful. 

If you have explored my Book Worm Blog you will have seen who I am but in case you haven’t I am the dark haired one in the two pictures. I am the one in the grey shirt and jeans in the older picture and the one in the blue shirt in the newer one.
 
 
 
 < Then, 2007
Now, 2015 >
 
                                                        

Reinvent Your Characters Wardrobe: Two Particularly Wonderful Renaissance and Medieval Clothing & More Sites that are Wonderful for Characters Wardrobes!

http://www.pearsonsrenaissanceshoppe.com/


I absolutely love the two above websites, Pearsons Renaissance Shoppe and Arm Street. They have Medieval and Renaissance Costumes for those that LARP, go to Renaissance Fairs, do CosPlay, etcetera.

I have found so many dresses, pants, tunics, shoes, extras on there that have inspired many of my characters wardrobes, as many of my characters live in the past or a future that has gone very medieval again. I make certain changes to how a certain outfit will look for my character versus the site but for the most part I stay true to the things on the site because I love them so much.

Of course many, many times I will just make up a dress or something from my imagination, because that is so fun and necessary to bring out that characters personal unique style.

I wanted to tell everyone about these sites though, if they haven’t already found them. It may help you to better visualize one of your characters outfits like I do, I am a very visual person. Or perhaps you go to Renaissance Faires or LARP or CosPlay and would love to find a place that has awesome attire, so these sites are it.

My Favorites on the Sites:

The Archeress

Autumn Princess

Lady of the Lake

Woolen Coat “Red Riding Hood”

Fantasy Dress “Wanderer” Linen Robe

Medieval Woolen Dress “Green Sleeves”

Elven Fantasy Wedding Dress

Forest Princess

To just name a few! I hope you enjoy exploring these sites as much as I have!

A few of the names on my blog I have found on another site that has Fantasy, Medieval, and Renaissance Wedding Gowns which I have used for inspiration for my characters wedding dresses before. The three names on my blog are the names of three of the dresses on the site, but there are many more dresses, I just only used those three names.

I have put a link to the site on those name posts but I will now put the site link here. So maybe if your characters getting married or you are getting married and want a unique dress then you can try looking on Rivendell Bridal, it’s a UK designer BTW.


If you have sites that you find interesting and have used to help with your characters wardrobe and want to let me know just leave a comment and I would love to go explore those sites.

If you find the sites I have put here of use and would love to tell me which outfit fits your characters then leave me a commit and I would love to take a look on the site of the outfit to get an idea about your characters personal style!

Olwen / Olwyn

Meaning: (White Footprint, In 'Culhwch and Olwen', one of the Welsh stories from the 'Maginogion', Olwen was so beautiful that four white flowers would grow in the heroine's footprints. The Path the Moon Takes on Water.)

Origin: (Welsh, Scottish Gaelic)

Pronunciation: (OW-LWehN, OHL-wen)

Gender: Female

I was looking for Welsh names and I stumbled upon this one. I have used love a lot in these posts but here is another that I truly love. It is beautiful and the meanings and stories behind it are just so wonderfully enchanting. I saw on one name forum that someone said one meaning was The Path the Moon Takes on Water but I couldn’t confirm or deny the truth of that meaning but I find it so gorgeous I had to add it. If you want the authentic then White Footprint is it.

I think it is lovely and feminine but I’ve heard others say it sounds a tad masculine and ugly but I don’t find it so. I think it is very much a Welsh name and they aren’t always so beautiful to English speakers but I think that if given the chance the names can grow on you. This one has me enchanted!

I like the spelling Olwyn better but I know in Welsh Wyn is the masculine and Wen is the feminine but I often do the opposite because to an English speaker Wyn looks feminine and Wen masculine.

Aylee

Meaning: (One Who Lives Near an Oak Tree, Hazelnut, Bird, Little Cinders, Entire, The Juniper Tree. The correct spelling of 'Aylee' is 'Eilidh'. It is a Scots-Gaelic name thought to derive from 'Aveline' or 'Helen'. )

Origin: (Old French, English, Scottish Gaelic, Germanic, Gothic)

Pronunciation: (AY-lee, AYE-lee, EYLIY)

Gender: Female

Now I am not for sure but I think this was in CW TV Series Reign. I don’t watch many shows but when I read the info about it and see a name I like I add it to my list and months later when I add it to the blog I forget where I first saw it. When researching the name I think I saw it is a name on the TV Series Reign. Either if it was or wasn’t on the show or where ever I saw it this is a truly lovely name. It is as beautiful as the derivatives Aveline and Helen *see on list of posts*.

The meanings are so lovely and I just love them. I love nature names or nature meaning names. I love One Who Lives Near an Oak Tree the best but Little Cinders reminds me of Cinderella and so thus this would be a great way to have a character be Cinderella in a retelling. She can be Aylee but be Cinderella and kind of some where have it come up the connection to the meaning and the cinders as well. Anyway I love, love this name. Though some I could see would assume it was Haylee but someone forgot to put the H at the beginning.

Zarina

Meaning: (Of Gold, Golden, Golden One, A Golden Vessel, Blossoming Flower, Splendor)

Origin: (Muslim, Persian, Arabic)

Pronunciation: (za-REEN-ah, Za-RIY-Naa)

Gender: Female

This is from The Pirate Fairy movie. I saw the newest Tinker Bell movie advertised some months back and the Pirate Fairy in the move is named Zarina. I think it is such a beautiful name. The meanings are gorgeous and the name is so fantasy Princess like it isn’t even funny. I would love to see this used more often. I see a Princess who is tough but beautiful and full of spunk when I see this name.  

Eisley

Meaning: (Cheerful, Americanized form of Swiss Eisele.)

Origin: (American, Swiss)

Pronunciation: (eyes-lee)

Gender: Female, Possibly Uni-Sex

I love the pleasant meaning of this name. A few years ago country singer Hilary Scott of Lady Antebellum named her daughter a similar spelling but same pronounced name Eisele, which I think is a purer original spelling but I didn’t really like it at all. Then a few months ago I saw this spelling and kind of like it. I mean I like the meaning and the look is unique. I think however it would look in my opinion better as maybe a surname or middle name.

Bjarke

Meaning: (Bear, Strong Bear, Danish diminutive of Bjorn.)

Origin: (Norse Mythology, Danish)

Pronunciation: (BEE-ARK-eh)

Gender: Male, Possibly Uni-Sex

I was watching one of those caught on camera shows and this guy who did a stupid stunt and got a bit hurt was named Bjarke. I thought stupid guy but cool name when I saw that episode. The name is bold and strong and very masculine but I could see this perhaps being used on a female. BEE-ARK-eh is the only pronunciation I could find so I don’t know if there are others. If you know drop me a comment and I would be happy to put the pronunciation above. I pronounce it as spelled, BEE-JAR-K, but I don’t think that is correct at all.

Tobias

Meaning: (The Goodness of God, In England it became popular after the Protestant Reformation.)

Origin: (Greek, Hebrew, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, English)

Pronunciation: (to-BEE-ahs (German), tə-BIE-əs (English), Tah-BAY-ahS (English), Tow-BIY-aaS (German), toh-BIY-əs)

Gender: Male

I was watching the Divergent movie (also a book) and the main male character Four had a real name which was Tobias. I love the name and the meanings. I also like the long history of use of this name. The obvious nickname will be Toby but that’s cool.

When I see this name I see a knight or peasant in medieval times. This has a very on a pilgrimage look or a I will save the fair maiden look which I love in a way but would also look great in the modern era as well. So a very diverse name.

Skyla

Meaning: (Sheltering, Well Read, Protector, Shield, Fugitive)

Origin: (Dutch, Irish, English, Old Greek)

Pronunciation: (SKIY-lə, SKAYLaa)

Gender: Female

Sad but I saw a commercial for the birth control that is named Skyla. I like the name but not how it is being used as a contraception name. Apparently parents on naming boards feel the same horror at their already named Skyla’s having their name associated with contraception.

The meanings are lovely, except the weird Fugitive meaning. All the other meanings are strong and beautiful but Fugitive is a weird one when combined with the others but that often happens with some names and there meanings. The name seems light and free. A cute nickname could be Sky. This would be a great alternative to the much more popular Skylar / Skyler. It’s beautiful and I would love to use this name and see this more often.

Liliandil / Lilliandil

Meaning: (She is a star and Ramandu's daughter in C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Prince Caspian falls in love with her and they eventually marry, making her the queen of Narnia. In the book, she is not named. Lilliandil was the name given to her in the film adaptation released in 2010. It was coined by Lewis's step-son, Douglas Gresham, the producer of the film.)

Origin: (Literature, Pop Culture, Fictional)

Pronunciation: (lil-ee-AHN-deel (Literature), lil-ee-AHN-deel, Lyll- AN-dill (Popular Culture))

Gender: Female

This name was used in C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 2010 movie. I really fell in love with the name but at first I misheard it but when I looked it up I really loved it even more. Though a made up name I think if making up a screen name or baby name or something this will work. But if for a character it may be copyrighted.

Though I will say I even tweaked the name and used the first part Lilian / Lillian and added a different ending, which made a pretty awesome beautiful name. I won’t add my made up name here as I made it up and intend to make it a future characters name and so I will debut this particular made up name some time in the future. So I will make you wait with baited breath, well its not epic enough for that, lol!  

So I am just saying you can take elements of this name and create your own name that is similar if you really love this name but find it copyrighted or fear others will know you got it from The Chronicles of Narnia.

Odense

Meaning: (Odense is derived from Odins Vé, meaning "Odin's sanctuary" as the area was known as a sanctuary for worshippers of the Nordic god, Odin)

Origin: (Old Norse, Norse Mythology, Icelandic, Danish)

Pronunciation: (O-den-se, Oh-den-ss)

Gender: Male, Possibly Uni-Sex

There is city with this name and I either saw it in a travel book or perhaps in this novel I was reading a few months ago. In the novel it talked about a few places in Norway so I probably read it in that novel. I think this is a pretty cool name with pretty cool meanings. I have used Odin *see on list of posts* before in a novel I wrote, so Odense means Odin’s Sanctuary.

Odin was the supreme Norse God in Norse Mythology, so the Norse Equivalent of Zeus in Greek Mythology and Jupiter in Roman Mythology. He ruled over Valhalla like Zeus over Mount Olympus. Both Odin and Odense are awesome names with a cool look.

Tris

Meaning: (Derived from the Latin Beatrix “She Who Makes Happy, She Who Brings Happiness”, which is from Beatus “Happy, Blessed”. Traveler, Pilgrim, Bringer of Joy, Noble, Patrician. Sad din, in a story from the Middle Ages, Tristan, nephew of King Mark of Cornwall, was in love with the Princess Iseult of Ireland. Short form of names like Tricia, Patricia, Beatrice/Beatrix, and Tristan.)

Origin: (Celtic, Latin, English)

Pronunciation: (TRIHS, TRIH-ss)

Gender: Uni-Sex

I was watching the movie Divergent (also a book) and the main female character is named Beatrice but later goes by the nickname Tris. I really like this name / nickname and the meanings a lot. I have used the name Beatrice *see on list of posts* before and had that characters sister Eden *see on list of posts*call her Tris and her twin brother Curran calls her Bea. I love that this can be a form of Patricia, Tricia and Tristan *see on list of posts*, I have never seen it as a form of those names before but I can see it now and I love it a lot. I would love to have a character named Tristan with the nickname Tris, which would be cute.

Tris is so light and airy and cute. I would love to see it used a bit more often but not too much as it could I fear become a tired name / nickname.

Mikhail

Meaning: (Gift from God, God Like, Who is Like God, Russian form of MICHAEL, and a variant transcription of Bulgarian MIHAIL. This was the name of two Russian tsars. It was also borne by the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-)

Origin: (Hebrew, Russian, Bulgarian)

Pronunciation: (mee-khah-EEL (Russian), Miy-K-aa-IYL, mihk-eye-EEL, mi-KYLE)

Gender: Male

I forget where I at first saw this name but when I did see it I was quite taken with the name. I love the unique to English speakers look. I love this is the Russian form of Michael as it has deep roots but looks modern to me. I love the meanings and the ageless feel of this name. I can image a very hot sexy male character with a beautiful sexy accent. I love this name so much.

I try to have the most accurate Meanings, Origin and Pronunciations for the names on this blog. It is best though to do research into the names you decide to use for your characters as there can be errors on my blog. Or meanings, origins, and pronunciations I have not seen thus not been able to add to this blog.





Try some of the leading Baby Name Sites and Baby Name or Character Naming books as well.


The baby name sites below are where I collect many of the Names, Origins, and Pronunciations I use on this blog.

Baby Names Sites:

http://www.thinkbabynames.com
http://www.babynamewizard.com
http://www.behindthename.com
http://www.babynamespedia.com