For the previous in this series of humor posts, go here.
I know everyone keeps on saying Obi-Wan’s name is Japanese, but I’m here to say that it doesn’t have to be. For instance, well…
You never know. It might be Welsh. X-P Just spelled phonetically for English speakers. ;-P
Or maybe it’s Russian.
Does anyone really know?
Anyway, this post didn’t have a point until I came along months later and gave it one. (I have got to stop scheduling posts and then losing my momentum…)
Basically, it’s about naming your characters. A good man is hard to name, and I’m finding more and more frequently now that they do not spring into my head fully formed and named. (Do I really want to name this other protagonist Ben as well? Or should I name him Matt? Or have his full name be Benedict instead of Benjamin and everyone just calls him Ben? Choices, choices…)
An especially difficult one to name was Rynnar (closely followed up by Halbryn, from Bound to the Flame.) Rynnar is the mentor of Winter, the protagonist of Loyalties and Generations (check out my Novels page to read more about those books!) And I needed a name for him that would sound strong, but thoughtful, and would not sound like Qui-Gon Jinn or Halt… (Nailed it! :-P) And the result? Rynnar Evremere. (That’s an awesome last name. And you know it. 😛 Don’t try to deny it. :-P) I’m still not absolutely sure about the name, but it sounds good enough that I will probably leave it as is. Some characters are just so hard to name, but fortunately most characters, sooner or later, if they’re done right, make the names their own.
I also have a hard time naming my villains. Fortunately, though, I have been writing long enough that by now I have a full list of good villain names, just waiting to be used.
So, my advice? Jumble names and letters around until you find one that works. Write down interesting-sounding names in the “Master” Notebook (and if you don’t have a master notebook, start one! It will be a great resource for plot bunnies, novel ideas, and keeping your novels organized.) Make sure to keep character profiles current, so you don’t have to scramble to go find someone’s name or what they’ve been up to.
Okay, hopefully that rambling post was helpful! Please tell me if you want me to post on how to start and structure a master notebook for use in writing. Thanks for reading, and God Bless!
The Upstairs Archives 
Names are hard. *nods* And I have a bad habit of getting lazy and just using default names for a lot of short story characters . . . which usually ends with me renaming said character when I edit the stories and accidentally putting the old name in a few times. 😛
A post about master notebooks would be cool!
Indeed. I have been known to slip up and do that a couple times… 😛 Fortunately, Winter has always been Winter… except when I was first conceiving the novels. Then I borrowed names from Star Wars… *is embarrassed* 😛
*sigh* It’s Shendi, remember?
I don’t… quite see how this post is ‘humor’.
I was joking around about the people who speculate that Obi-Wan’s first name is Japanese or Korean. (Who knows, it could be Russian or Welsh or even Inuit!)
Okay. (Lucas later joked on that in an Indiana Jones movie, named a place in a Chinese setting “Obi-Wan”. He also labeled a plane in the same movie “C-3P0”, though.)
But yeah, on this world it could be anything.
Oh, so he named something for the fan speculation? That’s kind of cool–or would be, if it just didn’t sound weird.
It could.
Hey, you changed your avatar! (I can’t read this new one, though…)
No, just an in-joke, so the Wars freaks would watch Jones as well, I guess.
Can’t read or can’t see? It’s an Arabic letter N, for Christian. ISIS paints it on houses owned by Christians, out in the Mideast, to add them to their hit-lists. A lot of Christians online took it as their avatar in solidarity.
Oh.
I didn’t know about that, actually. :-S I haven’t heard about it, and I haven’t been able to read the news much. 😦
Over here it’s pretty big news, because a lot of British Muslim extremists go over there to help ISIS &c. Which is more than slightly worrying because they come back again!
Oh…. Some people are just insane, I guess. And yes, that is disturbing.
Love the new avatar! I double checked a neighbor’s flag to make sure it was the same symbol… it was 🙂
@ Erin it’s an N. I’ll let Rosalie (i got the name right, right?) do the honors of explaining. 🙂
Okay….? It doesn’t look Elvish, though. It’s Hebrew, isn’t it?
Names are both ridiculously hard and incredibly important. My villains always end up taking longer than my heroes, but I also take longer to develop them in general =P
The best thing is when all of a sudden your character decides to name itself, and it’s just so fitting and excellent a name for them =P
I know, right?! The bits when a character names himself/herself are the BEST. 😀
That is exactly what I do!!! I got Raltan’s name by mixing up the letters in “tarantula”.
X-D Ironic, that. (Don’t say it in front of certain people–they’ll assume that since you used a species of spider from the Southwest it’s really veiled racism. Seriously. Some people are just nuts.)
Well, I live in Texas, so… 😉 We’ve actually found two small spiders that looked suspiciously like mini tarantulas.
Yeah. 😛 But some people will still think it’s veiled racism. There’s no accounting for general insanity. (Is your villain Caucasian? That makes it less likely to happen all around.)
Eh, that’s never really made clear, but in my head he is. I always think of him as being played by Tom Hiddleston…
Ah. 😛 Only without the British accent, I’m assuming? 😛
Well… maybe just a bit… nah, you’re probably right. 😀 Although I’d love the British accent, too, but it just wouldn’t fit. 😉
😛 I’m not sure who my villain in Loyalties would be played by. It needs to be someone who can play someone who is both innocent, and powerful and domineering. And the villain is a woman, so obviously the boys are out. 😛
Haha, yeah. That’s kind of hard. It sounds sort of like Elsa from Frozen… ooh, it sounds like one of my rp characters!!!! She’s amazing!!!!! (She’s like a cross between Elsa from Frozen and Hawkeye from The Avengers)
Neat. So, almost but not quite like a Merida and Elsa hybrid? 😛
Pretty much. Elsa is more for her appearance. I guess I say Hawkeye because she’s sort of in the Avengers world, I guess. And they have a bit of a – a clashing personality I guess. They don’t like each other much. She’s got some of Stark’s personality, which is probably why. 😉
Ah. 😛