Yesterday I began explaining the origin of sever character names and the reasons how those names came to be. Let’s continue where we left off…
- Turnbill - I needed a gangster of shadowy power, someone distant with a name that meant trouble. It was a tough one to figure out honestly. When I get in that trap, I often scan old fantasy stuff and look for something small to go off of. My MtG cards had a character from the Legends series called “Riven Turnbull”, note the last name is different. I took the idea and swapped the ‘U’ for an ‘I’ because my initial idea was for him to be a powerful bureaucrat gone bad. In essence, he turned bills that resulted in death and dishonor. Dumb, but it stuck and it sounded sinister like I needed.
- Honest – Honest may be my favorite character in the book. She’s my instigator. Her name was meant to be a strict matter of fact. I think sometimes using a name as a means of explaining a character is quite effective. It plays out well as she evolves in the book as well. Her name may be one of the most effective because a reader must constantly wonder when or if she will break from form.
- Skylar – I really just thought up the name of the worst person I had any dealings with in high school. This was the name of a boy so callus and selfish that he left a friend of mine in ruin for several years. Also, I think it sounds really douchy.
- Abiel - Another real life name brought to fiction. This is the full name of one of my friends who goes by the shorter version of “Abe”. Since this character is for all intents and purposes a religious nut, expanding his name to its original use carries a nice bit of odd religious weight to it.
On another note, I resolved my issue from yesterday. It was in the lamest way possible too. I simply reverted to the original name I assigned to the main character in my initial draft. I was over complicating the issue. Several of the potential names I was looking at were too long or too…much. In the end, this character will be named Eric Sturgg. ”Eric” has connotations of leadership behind it. There’s an old Swedish King named Eric the Saint who worked to bring Sweden back to the old ways, which has a small thread of connection to this character.
