How Important are Fantasy Names?

As I begin planning out my major revision for my fantasy-esque novel, I’m being forced to crack down on my characters, and their names. I blogged once before on naming characters, and it looks like I’m going to have to follow my own advice.

The issue I’m having is that my story takes place in a fantasy world (or rather, post-fantasy, since no one has seen or heard of anything magical for over 500 years). Do I give my characters fantasy names?

I would live here! (via Harper Collins Canada Facebook Page)

Right now I feel like I’m an even half-and-half. Half of them bear either unusual or made-up names (Ilex, Tamsin, and Pharecles), while the others have fairly common names (Tristan, Teddy, and Derrin).

Books like Lord of the Rings, Graceling, and Eragon consist mainly of ‘fantasy’ names (Frodo, Raffin, and Ajihad), but do they take away from the story? My mother, to whom I recommended the Eragon books, couldn’t get past the first chapter, and handed it back over with complaints that the complex pronunciation of character and place names took away from the story. I can see her point, but the flipside is that it authenticates this new, alien, and unknown world. You can’t create a novel about a dragon rider called Kevin (which was what Christopher Paolini originally called Eragon in his earliest drafts), no matter how great a name Kevin is.

I thought it’d be great to have your extremely educated and valued opinions on this matter. Which of the following applies to you when you’re reading a fantasy-esque novel?

A) Fantasy names authenticate the reading experience — the stranger the better!

B) I enjoy fantasy names as long as they are easy to pronounce.

C) It doesn’t matter — all that matters is that the characters are memorable.

D) Other. Please elaborate.

~

Also remember that tonight the Queen will  be declaring the London 2012 Olympic Summer Games officially open! I’ll be watching events over the Games, with my pen poised, ready to snatch up any interesting athlete names!

I Endorse Nerds!

(Commissioned by me and created by my lovely sister.)

Behold — a badge a nerd like me can flaunt with pride. I realize that there are different types of nerds, but this kind happens to fall within my lightsaber-wielding, broomstick-riding, fire-breathing, Narnian-fighting, Hobbit-loving, Hunger Games tribute boundary of epic nerdiness.

So enjoy. Flaunt your inner nerd. Be proud. Feel free to share on Facebook or other blogs!

Nerd out.

 

I endorse nerds. So should you. Embrace your inner nerd and wear this badge with pride.

 

A little Dwarvish for you…

Here’s a little pixelated bundle of fun (okay, it’s a lot fun); one of my favourite fantasy authors, Christopher Paolini, speaking Dwarvish!

 His Inheritance Cycle finally wrapped up last fall with the release of Inheritance (Book Four), three years after Brisingr (Book Three) hit shelves. The wait was painful, but watching this video of Christopher erased any of my bitterness of the long wait. Reading his four, deliciously fat novels is quite the adventure. As he was only a teenager when he wrote Eragon (Book One), by the time you put the last book down it hardly sounds like the same writer! It’s amazing to go on the writing/magical/fantastical journey with Christopher, Eragon, Saphira, and friends/foes.

And, because of the Inheritance Cycle, dragons have tied for first with unicorns as my favourite fantasy creature.

I’ll probably be blogging more about the staggering and vast worlds of the Inheritance Cycle sometime later, but for now, enjoy!

PS: How do you like the new theme? I’ll try not to change again for another couple months, but sometimes change is good. In this case, anyway!

Selfish Characters Are Popular?

It’s been recently brought to my attention that many popular main characters are too selfish. The prime example given was Katniss Everdeen from Suzanne Collins’ bestselling Hunger Games trilogy.

I didn’t know how to take this. Yes, when you think about it, Katniss might be selfish. Then again, she’s a sixteen-year-old girl thrown into an arena of teenagers forced to fight to the death and trying to fulfill a promise to her sister.

Of course she’s selfish, especially in Book One. She’s trying to survive.

This got my mind whirring. Are other main characters selfish? I thought of Bella Cullen from the now-disgraced Twilight saga. Yes, she’s unbearably selfish, though no one really pays valid attention to her anymore. I thought of Harry Potter. While he’s a kid with way too much to handle and trying his best to be sacrificial, some of his actions betray the selfishness of a teenage boy. Eragon from the Inheritance Cycle — if you look at him deeper, he’s a selfish kid too.

Then I thought: are these characters selfish because of their youth? All of them are teenagers, and teenagers are inevitably selfish.

Are they selfish by accident of the author? Are they made that way?

Does it bug the reader when a protagonist thinks of nothing but him/herself? In poor Bella Cullen’s case, yes. That girl would have no self-esteem if she could hear people talk about her. In Harry, Eragon, and Katniss’s cases I don’t think anyone holds it against them because of their later actions.

Characters have to be flawed, but no one wants another Bella. So when do you draw the line and make a protagonist a little more selfless?

I’m figuring that out. Now I’m painfully aware of how others might read my character’s actions. Out of selfishness? Or out of love? I don’t want my Mina to be annoying to the reader. 

While I couldn’t care less of what other people thought about me, I want people to like my character. And, as Mina and I are still being acquainted and don’t trust each other 100% yet, I’m trying to be acutely aware of what her actions/thoughts might provoke in others. To a degree she is selfish — she wants to go home to her little brother and salvage her business. But I’m trying to make her see the bigger picture: maybe it’s best for everyone if she stays at the country’s capital of Naphiring.

I think she’ll come around. We need to get to know each other more; I need to figure out what makes her tick. Once I become situated with being in her head, I’ll be able to pull myself away and tell her to think of other people when necessary. “Think of Tristan and Ilex. They might need you more than you need your brother. Think about it, Mina.”

Just some thought. Take it how you will. :)