Good stuff. Finding the right name is vital, especially character names. They strongly influence how the reader imagines the character, their voice, their clothes, etc.
But when the words are flowing, it's really important not to get bogged down or distracted by the need to search for just the right name. You can drop in a temporary placeholder and come up with something better later on -- though in the meanwhile your conception of the character is being influenced by the placeholder...
To prevent myself from getting bogged down, before I start writing a story I always make a list of names. And I'll free-associate on the main themes of the work. For a story about AI, for instance, I might list all the AI researchers and philosophers that I've read. Or, for a zombie story, I'd write down all the names of great zombie-movie directors and zombie-story authors whose work I've admired.
Later when I'm in writing and I suddenly need a name for a new character (or street, or business, or whatever), I will quickly go over that list of names and pick something appropriate. I'll mix the first name of a director with the last name of a writer, say. Then I can move on immediately and keep writing.
Maybe I'm the only one who will ever know where the names came from, but hopefully some attentive reader will pick up on it and think it's cool that the names all resonate with the themes of the work.
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momijizukamori and
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Date: 29 Mar 2017 02:25 (UTC)But when the words are flowing, it's really important not to get bogged down or distracted by the need to search for just the right name. You can drop in a temporary placeholder and come up with something better later on -- though in the meanwhile your conception of the character is being influenced by the placeholder...
To prevent myself from getting bogged down, before I start writing a story I always make a list of names. And I'll free-associate on the main themes of the work. For a story about AI, for instance, I might list all the AI researchers and philosophers that I've read. Or, for a zombie story, I'd write down all the names of great zombie-movie directors and zombie-story authors whose work I've admired.
Later when I'm in writing and I suddenly need a name for a new character (or street, or business, or whatever), I will quickly go over that list of names and pick something appropriate. I'll mix the first name of a director with the last name of a writer, say. Then I can move on immediately and keep writing.
Maybe I'm the only one who will ever know where the names came from, but hopefully some attentive reader will pick up on it and think it's cool that the names all resonate with the themes of the work.