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#suncats #wenatcheespring #cats_of_instagram #sittinginsunshine https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw3TGWbndyX/?igshid=9zzlhvi5y1xu

#suncats #wenatcheespring #cats_of_instagram #sittinginsunshine

nanowrimo

Appellation Station: The Complex Art of Naming Your Characters

We’re neck-deep in NaNo Prep season. Like the main event itself, NaNo Prep is always better with an incredible writing community around you. Luckily, the NaNo Tips & Strategies forums have a ready-made community. Today, we asked Tia Kalla, forums moderator, to talk to us about the Appellation Station forum, and the complex art of naming your characters:

So you’re working on developing your characters, but you’re not really sure where to start? (Like answering rhetorical questions?)

Names are often one of the first things I nail down about a new character: partly because I help moderate the Appellation Station forum, partly because “Hey, you” gets confusing after a while, and partly because the mere act of assigning a name can help decide certain things for your character.

Like what, you ask? (Am I rocking these rhetorical questions or what?) Well…

Gender

Sure, there are traditionally female names and male names. But there are also gender-ambiguous names and names that skew one way or another. Readers and characters alike form impressions based on those names, and it can be fun to defy those impressions by giving a character an unexpected name. (My 2013 NaNo included a girl with a masculine-sounding name—which accidentally gets her a roommate assignment with a boy. Whoops!)

Age

Ever heard of someone named Ethel or Mary and expected them to be old? How about expecting a Madison or Alexis to be younger? Certain names were so popular at various points of history that you can date a character by their name alone sometimes.

At least in the US, census data can tell you what the most popular names are in any given year, which can give you a place to start.

Cultural background

One of my pet peeves is seeing someone ask for a throwaway or cameo name, and get nothing but Jessicas, Sarahs and Emilys.

One of the easiest ways to get variety in a story is to just think outside the box. Why not go for a Yumi, or a Semiha, or a Taye? If you’re just starting with a character, giving them a culturally unique name can be a great jumping off point for development—after all, a Svetlana is not likely to have the same life experiences as a Sally!

Genre

There must be something about fantasy names that we can identify them by their feel alone (and I don’t think it’s just the apostrophes!) Otherwise, why would we have so many name generators dedicated to them?

Likewise, sci-fi and alien names have a feel to them, trending toward short and punchy while fantasy tends to skew more lyrical. And of course, if you’re writing historical fiction, your names will represent your niche in history.

Their Destiny!

But no, really. A lot of authors like to give their characters names that contain meaning, which may be significant to the story or just to the reader.

For example, Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon means “rabbit of the moon”, a reference to the Japanese myth of a rabbit on the moon and the fact that she’s the moon’s princess.

Beorn, a character in The Hobbit, whose name means “bear spirit”, was a bear skinchanger. Other writers may name characters after people they know, or inside jokes—like, I hear there’s a bunch of people that name a character “Mr. Ian Woon”…

So, does this give you some food for thought on what work your character’s name can do for you? Or are you just tired of the rhetorical questions?

…I’ll show myself out now.

Former volunteer Municipal Liasion for NaNoWriMo, current moderator, and participant for probably longer than the recommended exposure, Tia Kalla is a fan of lengthy subordinate clauses and the Oxford comma. She writes all over the genre map, but mostly fantasy, and makes too many cannibal jokes. Someone dared her to put “a thing” in her bio, so she did.

Top photo by Flickr user bump.

hermi-blutsauger

There’s no way I was born to just pay bills and die.

(via egyptiiangirl)

First squash of the season!

#gardening #veggies #homegardening

Zina’s Lights

Darkness falls and globes of light appear across the sleeping tundra illuminating the reddish-brown landscape with a haunting yet alluring beauty Alone on the porch Zina shivers in a cloak and the last bit of smoke from her dying cigar blends with evening’s chilling pinch The orbs whisper seductively in her head calling her out to an uncertain death that she’d risk to take and be free from the misery of heartache A billowing cloak sees her off into the night and the spirits rejoice wickedly to her arriving presence she licks her lips and narrows her eyes because tonight she will become possessed The orbs grow in number more than she can count violet with red and green contrasting yellow spirits of the dead brush her skin coldly yet she warms them Her open palm invites them in sneering as she sits on the moist ground they swarm her with forbidden magic of flames aching for a long held revenge. -T. Hirschberg

#creative writing #creativework #short fiction #shortstories #poetinsideme #narrative poem #narrative poetry #poetry #poetry on tumblr #fantasywriting #fantasyworlds #fantasyadventure #writingfiction #writinglife #writing #artisticsoul #artists on tumblr

‘Tis the berry season!

#berries #harvesting #falliscoming #harvests #forestsarebeautiful #natureisawesome

nicholasbrowne

You cannot judge an artist for their work. The act of making art is the act of bringing a feeling, a thought, or an urge to life. The artist is simply the muse. An artist, simply put, is nothing more than the expression of life.

Nicholas Browne (via nicholasbrowne)

Well said!

#writingfiction #creative writing #creativework #artists on tumblr #writinglife #writingishard #writing

kaijuborn

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as a live action movie

rueblr

Amazing! Thank you for sharing!

#skyrimisawesome #bestgameever

I find forests to be magical places. There’s something about being hidden in the trees, where sunlight filters in under a canopy of green and animals that can kill you lurk in the unseen places of the imagination.

Vulnerability. Beauty. Exposure. A nourishing sense of Earth and creation.

#forestsarebeautiful #forests #fairytales #fantasywriting #fantasyadventure #hiking #natureisawesome #naturesbeauty #natureisbeautiful #natureisinspiring #ilovenature

melbellelove

Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga hails from the place where fear and wisdom meet, she straddles the gap between life and death and holds the secret to both.

Also known as Jezda or Jazi Baba, Baba Yaga is an old witch who lives in the forests of Eastern Europe. It is said that her teeth, nose, and breasts made of iron and that her hair is made snakes. She moves through the forest using a mortar and pestle. Her house sits upon chicken legs which allows it to spin around and move. Her fence is made out of the bones of people who have displeased her. Baba Yaga is a very complex women who is thought to be the personification of death as well as having dominion over fertility, fate and nature. She has the gift of prophecy and can impart great wisdom. If you wish to benefit from the gifts of Baba Yaga you must undertake an arduous journey to her house and then you must survive the tasks Baba Yaga puts forth to test you.

rueblr

Thank you for this beautiful post! I love Baba Yaga stories!

"A Poisonous Visit" (excerpt)

“How could you, Mother?” Edmon croaked. “How could you poison my wife?”

Kriksa stood speechless in front of him, the boy she’d found twenty-five years ago helpless in the woods, holding the empty vial like a lynx caught in a trapper’s snare. He’d grown up to be so fierce in nature, courageous, intelligent, but worse of all suspicious of her.

And what could she say now that Roza had unfortunately died from the experiment, with the evidence clearly pointing towards Kriksa? She would have to confess the truth. Maybe.

“I didn’t mean to kill her.” Kriksa started with a poorly phrased apology. “But she drank more of the mixture than I intended to give her.”

“You killed her!” his voice thundered her into submission, and he pushed her back against the window. “You wicked, malicious witch! Roza was right about you all along!”

“She wasn’t meant to die.” Kriksa tried to explain, fully knowing that nothing she could say would win her son’s heart back. “I was only experimenting like you always do.”

“I’ve never given her anything!”

Edmon raised his hand and she prepared for the worst, but a moment later he lowered it and dropped to his knees, sobbing instead by Roza’s stiffening corpse. Kriksa pressed her back against the cool glass, her heart chilled to the unfolding drama of an unfortunate circumstance.

Her son’s cries should have swayed her to emotion, but she’d lost that part of her humanity when she gave herself to the Master. She worked only for him, spreading his gift of disease to the villages she visited out of love and devotion to the dark force that guided her life.

#fantasy #fiction #shortstories #fairytales #babayaga #slavicmythology #slavic #witches #covens #poison #forests #cabininthewoods

Picture perfect forest.

#forests #fairywoods #fairytale #spruce trees #evergreens #rivers #lostinthewoods #middleofnowhere #forestsarebeautiful

wowtastic-nature

💙 Forest of Trolls on 500px by Ole Condrup, Svendborg, Denmark ☀ Nikon D3, 1500✱2254px-rating:88.3

rueblr

Look at the tiny mushrooms!

Rusalka: “ It is accounted by most stories that the soul of a young woman, who had died in or near a river or a lake, came back to haunt that waterway. This undead rusalka is not invariably malevolent, and will be allowed to die in peace if her death is avenged. Her main purpose is, however, to lure young men, seduced by either her looks or her voice, into the depths of said waterways where she would entangle their feet with her long red hair and submerge them. Her body would instantly become very slippery and not allow the victim to cling on to her body in order to reach the surface. She would then wait until the victim had drowned, or, on some occasions, tickle them to death, as she laughed. It is also believed, by a few accounts, that Rusalki can change their appearance to match the tastes of men they are about to seduce, although a rusalka is generally considered to represent universal beauty, therefore is highly feared yet respected in Slavic culture.” -credit to Wikipedia

#rusalka #rusalki #slavicmythology #russianmythology #fairytales #fantasy #zombies #zombiesinfairytales

Coven Of Moonlit Peak

The northern land of Mirovinia would soon witness devastation through disease at the hands of five sister witches spreading their Master's gift to the world. Matilda, the motherly & sensitive one. Josefine, self-centered & methodical. Svetlana, talented in poison making but easily manipulated. Katya, clumy and innocent yet willing to learn. Baba, wicked to the core and the oldest witch by 200 years, in direct contact with the Master. He would give them a jar containing a deadly illness to spread across the land. They would each choose a province in Mirovinia and target a person to infect. His minions would control the people, now incapacitated by death and destruction. A cure exists and one girl volunteers to find it.