04-20-2003, 07:36 PM | #1 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Apr 2003
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Character names
In your writing, what are some names of the characters? Mine are:
High Elves: Tanaris Teriel Tiralon Urion Selenor Tisral Wood Elves: Azral Larian Avrial Dark Elves: Agalayth Amhrobis Akaera Illigath BTW I've heard from some certain GWs whose names I won't mention that my names don't sound Elvish enough. Just remember, it's MY Elvish, not Tolkien's. No offence GW, I just had to say that.
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04-20-2003, 07:41 PM | #2 |
Entmoot Attorney-General,
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Most of the names sound Hebrew to me, not Elvish. Please don't be angry with me for telling you this!
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04-20-2003, 08:08 PM | #3 |
Lurker
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Your Elvish? There's only one Elvish. Well actually there's Quenya and Sindarin but that's not what I meant.
I go to various Quenya wordlists, find a word I like, make a name of it, and use it. That way certain GWs can't argue.
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04-20-2003, 08:09 PM | #4 | |||
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
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Remember, I said that they didn't seem Elvish to me, but that Different People had Different Tastes.
The exact quote being: Quote:
Quote:
Also, some changes have been made to the names of some deities: Quote:
Camras Lutas Teverah Valtan (this one had a sex-change! ) -Tarios has been removed, as more female deities were needed, and his character didn't fit; Camras now serves double-shift for him- Galtir Ecanas Ailant Eltaia Ranwyl Yethar (Also has gone from male to female) Kenón Antoreah (Added in place of Tarios) Half of them are married, half are not. As you can see, I have gone for less emphasis on Romance gender name endings, i.e. All ladies names end with "a".
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04-20-2003, 08:26 PM | #5 |
Elf Lord
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Shizers thats alot of names
Gwaimir I really like your names!
Here's a couple of mine: Tsy Ulovar Uningon Ileron Æther I have a bunch more written down somewhere, but I can't remember them or find them , but if I do I'll post them
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04-20-2003, 08:27 PM | #6 | |
Elven Warrior
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Quote:
And they may sound Hebrew to you, but that's alright. I'm a Jew.
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04-20-2003, 08:29 PM | #7 |
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Ah. But are they Tolkien Elves adapted to your style or your Elves influenced by Tolkien?
(Sorry, had to ask.)
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There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium... |
04-20-2003, 08:33 PM | #8 |
Elven Warrior
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I guess, since Tolkien's Elves influenced everyone else's Elves. Mine are very similar to the Elves in Warhammer. They have very good histories and background information for two of the Elven races in Warhammer. (The Wood Elf Army Book hasn't come out yet... )
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04-20-2003, 10:36 PM | #9 |
The Insufferable
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A good rule of thumb for naming characters: Names Have Meanings.
Don't give arbitrary names. Don't give names that you just think sound cool. Give names that reflect, or are a reflection of, the character.
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04-20-2003, 10:47 PM | #10 |
Elf Lord
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That kind of depends where you want your focus to be. For example, I never bother with making meanings or linkage to my fantasy names, and I don't ever worry about making special weapons in terms of giving them names or history. I often just go with normal weapons also, such as swords, spears and bows and arrows. I don't often describe them much at all.
With other things though, I go into a great deal of detail. Tolkien was a genius . He went deeply into everything. Names, weapon lineage, histories, plotline, characters, everything. I don't think it should be necessary for every other writer to do the same thing as he does there. |
04-20-2003, 10:52 PM | #11 |
Elf Lord
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Names in non-fantasy stories don't necessarily have to have meanings, though sometimes they end up having meanings anyway. One of my stories' main character's name is Elizabeth. I chose the name because I liked it, but realized later that her name worked well in one of the themes of the book.
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04-20-2003, 11:26 PM | #12 |
Elven Warrior
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Elves:
Ithil Tinu Thorn Rakka Men: Morko Different Story Narr Lyen Other Creatures: Shien Kye Loomla Different story Vogue Morsh (then there are a bunch of serpents named what they represent like Peace, Earth, Moon, Death, and Fire) In my non-fantasy Stories: Jack, prince of the under world Jessie (i hate that name and must change it) Ada, Demon and guardian of Jessie Lave, Also Demon and Guardian of Jack Different story. Serj, the Immortal from Victorian times Kali, Serj is madly in love with her but she could care less Morris (his name will soon be changed), Also immortal and from Victorian times.
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04-21-2003, 12:00 AM | #13 | |
Empress of the Writewraiths
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Quote:
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04-21-2003, 09:08 AM | #14 | |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
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Quote:
Demons and Immortals aren't fantasy...
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04-21-2003, 10:48 AM | #15 |
Elf Lord
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It really depends what kind of a demon or Immortal it is. You know, we make up our own creatures. I have Demons in my fantasy trilogy, but I defined demon as I chose. These are demon-like demons, it's true, but they are different because they have physical bodies and can be slain. I have other demon type creatures, though they aren't named demons, which belong to the spirit realm, and they're much closer to what I really envision a demon to be like.
So it really depends what you do with the name to make what kind of a creature it is. How you define the names defines whether they're fantasy or not . Peretti's books aren't fantasy; they're religion based. Immortal can also be defined in various ways to have different meanings. If the book is based upon a religion, it would be a slap in the face to the religion to call them fantasy. If something is real life, it isn't fantasy. And it wouldn't be put in the fantasy genre if a vast amount of people really think it is like real life. |
04-21-2003, 04:33 PM | #16 | |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
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On the contrary: Peretti's books ARE fantasy.
From the Dictionary.com definitions of fantasy (these being the ones which apply to literature): Quote:
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04-21-2003, 04:42 PM | #17 |
Elf Lord
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But not all religious books are fantasy. No one would dare put the Bible on a fantasy book shelf . Those types of books go in religious genres, not fantasy. That is because only some people consider them "highly fanciful".
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04-22-2003, 01:59 AM | #18 |
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I find that all delineations of genre are bunk, and that they're only used to shelve things neatly. I don't even read books by genre, so I'd actually much prefer it if bookstores just had all fiction in alphabetical order of author's last name. It's a pointless argument.
I do believe that names should have meanings - or at least be given meanings, particularly in the case of fantasy names that are not rooted in any earthly languages. But of course, some of you already know my feelings about being overwhelmed by fantasy names from the thread in Fantasy/Sci-Fi, so I'll just leave it at that. I don't write fantasy, so I don't have a list of names to post here. However, when I do write fiction, I often have a tendency to create names that are distinctly very English for some odd reason - sort of the lordly garden variety... think Jane Austen. I don't know why.
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04-22-2003, 03:15 PM | #19 | |
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Quote:
Since both parents strongly believed in the power of name meanings, they would never have given her a name that would work so well with their daughter becoming what they feared she'd be. So even though the name was appropriate in terms of meaning, it clashed with what I had already decided about other characters. |
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04-22-2003, 04:42 PM | #20 |
The Evil One
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Ooo one of my favorite things is making up names!
Boys names: Sorino Gridion Girls names: Slovenka Solenka Demara Liliac (Li-lee-ac) Hanara Aliana
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