Character names, titles, cover art and other fun stuff

[LizW65]

I don't want to hijack the "arting harder" thread any further, so I thought I'd start a new one to deal with a couple of things the last few posts have covered.
A few people have mentioned Deviant Art as a good source of cover artists; some of us may also have untapped talent among family, friends, and so on. It just occurred to me this morning that my SO's daughter in Philly has an art degree and may be interested in creating a cover for my next magnum opus. (Fingers crossed.)

MegEvonne mentioned that she has difficulty coming up with characters' names and often gives them "placeholder" names during early drafts. I'm exactly the opposite; if I don't find the perfect name for a character early on, he or she doesn't work for me at all. In fact, names are often one of the first things I'll come up with, and then I have to find a way to work the characters into the story. The protagonist of my urban fantasy was giving me problems I couldn't quite put my finger on until I realized his name was wrong; once I changed him from Max to Julian he suddenly became a far more interesting character and a more willing collaborator in the process.

Titles are more difficult for me. Frequently I'll give a work in progress a placeholder title and eventually come up with something better along the way. (However, I'm great at coming up with random, useless titles I have no use for; some of them include Dead Birds Through the Skylight, Vestal Vixens of Vesuvius, The Dead of the Shed, Vampyromaniac!, and Cannibal Carnival. I offer these to you, my dear colleagues, free and clear, to do with what you will.

[superpsycho]

Character names can be difficult and often a name can well influence how a character is written. Some authors spend a bit of time on names and seem to be able to come up with some vary inventive monikers that match the personality and/or physical features of a character. Mrs Laughingale; for an always jolly and giggling wife or Alfred Stickly; perhaps for a skinny accountant.

Many Sci-Fi authors are prone to create tongue twisters, some of which can be rather suggestive depending on the pronunciation used. If it works with the story, names that provide a little tongue in cheek humor can help the story and the reader's enjoyment.

The title can drive an author to distraction and may change with every chapter. But the title isn't important until a book is finished, then it becomes a key factor. A good placeholder, that will remind the author of what the focus of the story is about, will do until it's all done. Then look for the hook, the insight, or focal point of the story, you can use to pull people in.

Covers can be the big attention getter. It's the billboard, that shouts, "You gotta see this!" As mentioned, a beginner has three choices; hire someone, find a friend that can draw or figure out how to do it themselves.

For those who don't want to fork out the cash to hire someone and have friends lacking of such talents, creating a decent looking cover is not beyond most peoples' abilities. Mainly it requires some research and learning how to use a couple pieces of software, of which there are many free versions. A digital camera doesn't hurt either but no drawing talent is required.

[The Deposed King]

I like to use name lists.  An easy one to do are Baby Names.  But I actually prefer to just do a simple google search and find those sites with Irish or Romanian or Greek names that also have descriptions that go along with the names.

This makes it easy to have non-space funky names that aren't all over the map and can also be a bit period or strange world culture indicative and help add flavor to the world without straining my brain.  If a name comes to me by itself that's cool but on the whole I find it a lot easier to just go to the list and pick out a cool name, one that fits with where I want the new secondary to go with.



The Deposed King

[superpsycho]

I like to use name lists.  An easy one to do are Baby Names.  But I actually prefer to just do a simple google search and find those sites with Irish or Romanian or Greek names that also have descriptions that go along with the names.

This makes it easy to have non-space funky names that aren't all over the map and can also be a bit period or strange world culture indicative and help add flavor to the world without straining my brain.  If a name comes to me by itself that's cool but on the whole I find it a lot easier to just go to the list and pick out a cool name, one that fits with where I want the new secondary to go with.



The Deposed King

I do the same thing. Establish the background of the character then find a name that matches.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

I like to use name lists.  An easy one to do are Baby Names.

Baby name sites are good for getting names for people from cultures other than your own.  So are academic conferences scientific papers, though depending on your setting, you may want to google them and confirm which gender they are.  (Or not.  Changing preferred gender is a thing names sometimes do; Tracy, in the last century or so in the US, for example, has almost entirely done so.)

If, like me, you write reasonably far-future SF, you can get a lot of history in that way.