http://5-rings.com/blog/2008/03/writing-without-rules/ A journal of the creative writing process. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:36:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://5-rings.com/blog/2008/03/writing-without-rules/#comment-49 cirellio Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:28:00 +0000 http://cirellio.wordpress.com/?p=23#comment-49 hm, not sure if I was being very clear: I guess I was trying to say that I name my characters before I know very much about them, and then I enjoy watching them grow into their given names. Meaningful names, or even names that sound like who you are trying to create, are a great thing in novels. I read an example once that mentioned how Dracula's name seems to capture the very essence of evil, and a great amount of emotional impact would have been lost if his name was something like ... Count Humperdink. An educated reader loves to find little Easter eggs in writing like double entendres, obscure references, etc. The meaning of the name Kerry was a great example. thanks for the comment :) hm, not sure if I was being very clear: I guess I was trying to say that I name my characters before I know very much about them, and then I enjoy watching them grow into their given names.
Meaningful names, or even names that sound like who you are trying to create, are a great thing in novels.
I read an example once that mentioned how Dracula’s name seems to capture the very essence of evil, and a great amount of emotional impact would have been lost if his name was something like … Count Humperdink.
An educated reader loves to find little Easter eggs in writing like double entendres, obscure references, etc. The meaning of the name Kerry was a great example.
thanks for the comment :)

]]> http://5-rings.com/blog/2008/03/writing-without-rules/#comment-48 David King Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:54:53 +0000 http://cirellio.wordpress.com/?p=23#comment-48 Sounds from your series of questions as the beginning that your in the process of a word for Cirellio and Co. to muck about in, which is a good thing. The narrative comes much easier if you know where your characters are. I know what you mean about story elements coming together. For a while, when I was going on a kick writing about the seven deadly sins. It started of as just one little mention of Sloth in a short story, and before I knew it just about every little plot twist and character trait was heading back to the subject. I think that being able to do that with characters is a sign that they're well rounded: if you can connect a character to any number of seemingly unrelated elements in a story, presumably you're doing a good job in making your people multi-faceted. I tend to name a character after some small trait, but I never make it important. Like, I named a blind girl Kerry (which means 'Dark eyes,' or 'Dark one.' But mostly I named her that because the name suited her. I go after the sound of a name with a character before the meaning of it. I do notice that once you name someone, regardless of what the name means, their character takes on that name, and doesn't let go. A rose, in this case, would not smell as sweet by any other name. Sounds from your series of questions as the beginning that your in the process of a word for Cirellio and Co. to muck about in, which is a good thing. The narrative comes much easier if you know where your characters are.
I know what you mean about story elements coming together. For a while, when I was going on a kick writing about the seven deadly sins. It started of as just one little mention of Sloth in a short story, and before I knew it just about every little plot twist and character trait was heading back to the subject. I think that being able to do that with characters is a sign that they’re well rounded: if you can connect a character to any number of seemingly unrelated elements in a story, presumably you’re doing a good job in making your people multi-faceted.
I tend to name a character after some small trait, but I never make it important. Like, I named a blind girl Kerry (which means ‘Dark eyes,’ or ‘Dark one.’ But mostly I named her that because the name suited her. I go after the sound of a name with a character before the meaning of it. I do notice that once you name someone, regardless of what the name means, their character takes on that name, and doesn’t let go. A rose, in this case, would not smell as sweet by any other name.

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