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Q&A

Posts tagged naming

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Q&A How can I make names more distinctive without making them longer?

In the point-of-view culture in my story, all of the women in priestly families have two-syllable names beginning with vowels. (There are reasons for this, but they're completely tangential to my q...

11 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Mark Baker‭

Question naming characters
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Q&A Naming Characters after Friends/Family

I drafted a book two years ago that I'm now polishing to publish. When I drafted it, for speed's sake, I named one of my primary characters after an old school friend who I'm still in contact with ...

5 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by GGx - Reinstate Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Stereotypical names

In every country, some names are particularly common: 'John' in the UK, 'Juan' in Spain, 'Ivan' in Russia. Those names are common almost to the point of being stereotypical (consider 'John Doe'). ...

6 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Character had a different name in the past. Which name should I use in a flashback?

One of my characters has a flashback to when he was 5 years old. At the time, he didn't have a name (he goes by a physical description instead). What's the correct way to refer to him in this flash...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Evil Sparrow‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question naming flashback pov
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Q&A Do hard to pronounce names break immersion?

I have a character in my book named Jiolluav (with the correct accent, Zholl-you-of or /ʒōl-'yoo-äv/), and I've written my entire "novel" (it's a work in progress) using this name. When I asked a f...

8 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Anoplexian - Reinstate Monica‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A How to differentiate between two people with the same name in a story?

I am writing a story in which at some point two characters with the same name interact each other. I can't use their last name to differentiate because it's necessary for them to have no last name....

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by System‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question naming characters
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Q&A Using accent marks in Fantasy novels

I'm wondering what are the basic ways that accent marks should be used when coming up with fantasy names of people, places, etc. Sorry if this might be a little vague of a question.

2 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by SpiralStudios‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question naming fantasy
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Q&A Characters with very long names or titles

My story is bilingual Spanish and English, revolving around an emperor and his lover. My main character is royalty and it is fitting for him to have a long name, but he transitions from one title...

1 answer  ·  posted 7y ago by JasperRuberté‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question naming
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Q&A Naming non-English folklore creatures

I'm working on a novel that involves folklore/mythological creatures from mainly the Norse and Scandinavian myths, but in the world of the novel, there exists beings from all cultures. I wish to wr...

1 answer  ·  posted 7y ago by sororicida‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Using the same name more than once?

So in my story, theres a character (name's Tris) in love with a girl, but she died. Her name was Lais. Later when he's older, he saves a little girl who looks the same as the girl who dies. He ad...

1 answer  ·  posted 7y ago by TwoFatPigeons‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question fiction naming comics
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Q&A Can I use names of characters and groups that other authors/creators have used already?

After I began writing my series, I decided to type some of the names into Google. I found that the name of one my characters (Trent Steele) was used in an episode of The Simpsons. I also found that...

2 answers  ·  posted 8y ago by Ferus Olin‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A How to keep a main character nameless?

I'm currently writing a story about a girl who was found by a couple in a magical isolated town, where everyone is named by the leader. I want her to not have a name because of two reasons: She d...

5 answers  ·  posted 8y ago by Vee‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Does the protagonist need a name?

Does the main character in a short story need a name? My story gives lots of other details about the character.

2 answers  ·  posted 8y ago by Nikki ltd‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Is it okay to have a character who doesn't actually have a name?

The character in my book doesn't have a name. I mean, he probably does, but its not used by any other character in the book, including the character himself. He has a generic name, kind of like ...

2 answers  ·  posted 8y ago by Sphoorthy Nutulapati‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Making a big deal out of revealing a character's name

Does there always have to be a big, showy production about the revelation of a character's name? I was thinking that I'd just slide the name in quietly, in an off-hand manner. Probably the reader m...

1 answer  ·  posted 8y ago by Sphoorthy Nutulapati‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question naming
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Q&A Tips for Coming Up with a Good Portmanteau (Name Smush)

In advance of the recent blizzard which struck the East Coast of the U.S., many media outlets were trying to coin a catchy name to describe the event (mainly to hashtag it on social media, let’s be...

1 answer  ·  posted 8y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question naming social-media
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Q&A Character name and its capitalisation

Nobody in my story knows the actual name of one of the characters. She calls herself 'tina. She always writes it 'tina and gets irritated if people write it Tina - it's short for something, but nob...

1 answer  ·  posted 8y ago by Ottsel‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A What is the correct casing for a character's title?

I'm currently writing some fiction about a lord and I'm struggling with when I should capitalise his title. There are a number of circumstances. When someone is referring to him or about him usin...

1 answer  ·  posted 9y ago by Liath‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question style naming
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Q&A Should the word "The" be included in a label when labelling a character?

If I reference a character, whom, for the current context is given a label, such as "The Skull", should I include the word "The"? The following snippet should clarify my question: Our mission is...

1 answer  ·  posted 10y ago by Azriel‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question naming
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Q&A Referring to people in a book

I'm writing a book (travelogue) about Japan, comparing it to Sweden, where I'm from. During my travels I communicated mostly in Japanese but occasionally in English and Swedish. The book is in Engl...

1 answer  ·  posted 10y ago by Jay‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A How to have a character be nameless for the first few paragraphs of a book?

Let me first explain what is going in in the beginning of the story: My main character belongs to a tribal culture that requires their children pass a rite of passage to earn their name. So I'm ki...

1 answer  ·  posted 11y ago by Lokiie1984‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Characters with no names

I've got a few short stories going, and I've foregone naming any of my characters. It started because I just didn't have any good names in my head and I was going to take care of it later, but now ...

3 answers  ·  posted 11y ago by tylerharms‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question fiction naming
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Q&A Do I correctly utilize my naming adjective concept in this book?

In my story THE GOSPEL OF THE RETURN OF A CHRIST THAT WANTS ANSWERS I wanted to evoke a sense of the middle ages in a modern book. So I utilized a technique where whenever I referred to a character...

1 answer  ·  posted 12y ago by Erith‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question technique naming
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Q&A Not knowing a character's name. Would this be frustrating for the reader?

I have a project I have been working on for many years. It is quite personal and is intended for a small audience. In the story, the protagonist is trying to find/help another character, who for ...

3 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by Michael‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Is it OK to refer to some characters by first name and to others by last name?

I'm writing the outline for my first novel, which has three main characters. I'm very happy with their names, however I recently noticed that I was naturally referring to the first two by first nam...

3 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by Carl Seleborg‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question naming characters
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Q&A About using authentic historical name for teenager material

I am writing a (short) story set in Ancient Egypt, and the intended audience are junior high-senior high school students in the US. I am trying to use authentic Ancient Egyptian names for the chara...

1 answer  ·  posted 13y ago by Fitri‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question naming
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Q&A How do you come up with a fictional character name in a historical era/region?

How do you research to find character names? Especially when it's long ago, not European, and the culture was totally different from what the region has now. For example, how would you generate nam...

1 answer  ·  posted 13y ago by Fitri‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question research naming
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Q&A Do we have to introduce the character's name before using their names in a dialogue tag?

Do we have to introduce the character's name before using their names in a dialogue tag? I am wondering if we can use the names without saying it's a man or a woman, and then making the characters ...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by blackbird‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Referring to different instances of the same character in time travel

I am writing a story that involves time travel, and I have a chapter where a character from the future interacts with his present-day self. This chapter is written from the present-day self's POV. ...

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Tempo Mental‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Any tip on naming a star, planet, geographical features and other non-living things? [closed]

I was wondering if "Spear" or "The Spear" could be the name of a planet. But I can't find a single reason to name a planet that way, and even if there were it just sounds horribly stupid. What are ...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by puffofsmoke‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A How to tag distinct options/entities without giving any an implicit priority or suggested order?

An example of the problem in an aggravated form surrounds the controversy of France changing ‘mother’ and ‘father’ to ‘parent 1’ and ‘parent 2’ in official paperwork - where the controversy suggest...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by SF.‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A How do i properly name a fictional species and describe it?

I'm currently developing a fictional species set in a fantasy world, and I want to name it, but I don't want it to sound too... scientific? For example, our scientific name is Homo sapiens, but we ...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Marcus Klein‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Avoiding repetition when there are two unidentified individuals

The tall figure was overwhelmingly tall. It stood in the corner of the room. The skinny figure right beside him sat on a chair. It wasn't moving at all. The tall figure moved to the opposite...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by repomonster‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A What are the Pros and Cons of long names?

Background: I'm developing names for places/characters/races/etc. in my world. One example are a particular political sect. The sect are a group within a different species that are named (the spec...

8 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by FoxElemental‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A What are some standards in naming a software/hardware version?

I am wondering if how we name a version of a spacecraft differs from how we name a version of a software. For software, I usually see things like "2.0.32.32" or something like that and sometimes th...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by blackbird‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A How can I introduce the names of fantasy creatures to the reader?

In the story, these fantasy creatures are everyday animals that most people in the story already know. How can I introduce them in an natural way that instantly makes readers remember their names? ...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by M Arif Rahman Winandar‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Giving a character a name that is based on his storyline [closed]

I'm trying to find an appropriate name for my main character. I want his name to reflect his personality and symbolize certain aspects of his past. For example, for a character who has supernatura...

2 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Cindered Soul‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A What should I do when I am stuck on names during freewriting?

If I get hung up choosing a name for a character, should I come back to it later? Or should I try to figure one out? I feel like sometimes I have some momentum going forward and taking too much tim...

6 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Luke Snell‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question novel naming fantasy
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Q&A Would it be cheating to change the main character's "name" partway through the story?

I'm writing a story written in third-person limited, and the main character has no real name. They simply go by the nickname they're given by the people they hang around at the time, resulting in m...

3 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by AkkaVer‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A What are good resources to get fantasy names?

I have trouble coming up with fantasy names. I've used random name generators but they weren't very helpful. Is there a website that would have fantasy names or Norse, or Celtic names?

2 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Ninja Brian‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A I gave my characters names that are exactly like another book. Is it a problem?

Ok, so, I am currently writing a book and 3 of my characters have the same name as in another novel. I didn't realize it until someone pointed it out to me. The names I picked are fairly common and...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by WidePen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A What should the omniscient narrator call a character?

Let there be a character. Let the character's name be, for example, Alexander. Now, Alexander's parents call him 'Sasha'. His friends call him 'Xander'. His girlfriend calls him 'Alex'. In formal ...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A What to call a nameless character in a 3rd person narrative?

How do I present a nameless character in a 3rd person narrative who has never known his parents? And has never had extended human interaction with anyone long enough to even be called “Boy” or “Chi...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Luke Snell‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question naming characters
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Q&A Naming things the POV character doesn't know

My middle-grade novel is third person with one primary and one secondary viewpoint character. Sometimes the narrator hovers a bit more, sometimes the narrator is more in the character's head. The...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Cyn‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Every character has a name - does this lead to too many named characters?

My tendency when writing is to give every character a name. Even the most minor ones. It says something about a nobleman when he knows every guard and stablehand by name, and it's something I want....

7 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question naming characters
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Q&A Latin names of European places

The novel I am writing is set in Europe. For the setting, I'd need to find the Latin names of places, e.g. villages and geographical features, in the regions corresponding to modern-day England and...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by _X_‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question resources naming
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Q&A How is a semordnilap typically used?

I am asking whether I should use it as a hint to make it clear that my story is about the story of Adam and Eve. In my short story, there's a place called "Nede", with two characters called "Mada"...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by puffofsmoke‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Is using an online name generator a good idea?

When I'm stumped for a planet name or an organization name or something, I usually search on Google for a free name generator. But are the names in random generators copyrighted? If I used a gene...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by weakdna says reinstate monica‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Naming my characters

I'm writing a fantasy novel. The story takes place in England (1900's) No matter how much I research I'm unable to move forward in naming my characters. For example, When we look at all the charact...

4 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Vishal Kompalli‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A What to call a main character who changes names?

I'd like to write a story, in the third-person perspective, centering on a character who changes her name several times in the course of the story. She uses her birth name for the first couple of ...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Cerise St Hilaire‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭