Category: Ramblings

The Naming of Things

(No, this is not a Patrick Rothfuss post)

Names are one of the most interesting tools at a writer’s disposal. Whether it’s a character, a place or an all-powerful item, Names are the first impressions that we give readers, whether we mean to or not. Sometimes, a name carries a certain weight to it for one person that it might not have as much effect on another.

Characters:
There are two people who own more than one baby name book: Expectant Couples and Writers. And even then, the writers probably have more.
I have four baby name books in my collection that I refer to when I need a new name. I find they often have good descriptions to give it context. I always try to think about my characters: who they are, their heritage, what their nickname preferences would be. I also think about the connotation that may come with the name (usually a quick google search will list any problems at first glance).
Another interesting thing I’ve seen done is using nouns as names. A perfect example would be Sodapop from The Outsiders. In my opinion, it’s unexpected and gives the character some personality (in this case bubbly) before we really get to know them. It’s tough to pull off, but with the right context, it can prove very interesting.
When it comes to fantasy names, it gets even trickier. I like playing with vowel sounds of fantasy sounding names, usually just sitting in my apartment playing with the phonetic sounds until I get it just right. Transcribing these sounds is a little trickier, but one thing I suggest? Avoid apostrophes. They make the reader stumble, so keep it simple. If your being is magnificent and interesting enough, ‘Carl’ can be a name that inspires fear in your readers when done properly.

Places:
A map is only as good as the cities you’ve named on it. The way we name towns occurs in a couple different ways, from what I’ve noticed. Usually, they’re geographic or honoring a former resident. A town named East Brook, for example, obviously would have been settled east of (you guessed it) a brook. Obviously, all names won’t be that simple. Or a place like Washington, District or State, is named after a figure that requires historical context to understand.
For fantasy towns, I like incorporating whatever geographic landmarks are nearby. A River or Mountain is easy to identify on the map, so I might call a fortress town River Hold or a town in between mountain peaks The Crease. In worlds without helpful street signs, large geographic markers make for the best kind of directions.
(Side Note: Always name your cities, or at least the ones you’ll be visiting. Nothing bugs me more than hearing about ‘The Captial’ unless there’s a good reason for it. Even if it is only referred to as ‘The Captial’ give it the honor of a name.)

Things:
Who wouldn’t love a Poison, Flaming Sword of Doom in their collection? But let’s be honest, that’s a bit of a mouthful. When I name items, I either make it obvious what it’s meant to do or I make it more obscure. When I talk about Eryn’s Razor Bow, it’s clear what the intent is before I even describe it. If I talk about The Orion’s Blade, we know it’s some type of blade, but the exact context is a little difficult. Is it a sword that gives strength? Is it a sword of space rock that has mystical powers? Tough to say for sure. It’s more fun.
Furthermore, giving weapons titles is a fun way to add backstory to your character’s tools, and often your characters. Orcrist from The Hobbit translates to The Goblin Cleaver. So it comes as no surprise that this sword has a less than amicable history with goblins.

The Power of Language:
One other thing to consider, when naming anything is the languages at your disposal. Tolkien’s Elvish Langauge was undeniably a cornerstone for his trilogy, especially when naming people, places, and things. Do your dwarves have a language you’ve developed? It would be an amazing opportunity to incorporate some of the languages into your story. Shifting from the “common speech” when naming things in your world gives the world more depth and makes it more interesting.

What are some of the best names you’ve heard of in a story? What really sticks out when you see certain names on the page?

Some Free Advice

“You need to know the rules well enough to break them.”

I was talking with some writing friends recently about the same things we hear in every course or workshop that we’ve done. There are a variety of “laws” to writing that every professor, every instructor and every person who writes will tell you. Some of them are obvious and some are decent pieces of advice. But a lot of times, we shorten them to one sentence and the free advice becomes exactly what you pay for. So, as someone who has been writing for a bit and knows several other writers, I wanted to kind of give you my take on some rather useless free advice.

Said Is Dead
(Even I’m guilty of this one, I’ll admit) This advice comes from the advice for varying your word choice. While I think that varying your words and sentence structure is important, you don’t have to become a human thesaurus. “Said” is one of the words that I’ve heard some people say to just delete from your vocabulary. But in my mind, that’s ridiculous. You can, and should, use “said” when writing dialogue. If you feel that you’re overusing it in an exchange, feel free to leave them out, just having a line of dialogue standing on its own. There are alternatives, but you don’t want your dialogue to become a collection of sighing, calling, yelling, wheezing, whispering, gasping, groaning and exclaiming. Use alternatives sparingly. It makes the times you do use it more exciting.

Show Don’t Tell
This advice starts with good intentions. 95 times out of 100, I totally agree with it. But there are instances when you can just state something. There are easy ways to show information. Shaking hands, watery eyes, and a cracking voice all lead us to think sad. But when you need to quickly convey information (Julia had a rough childhood in Scoot, Wisconsin) you are allowed to tell if it’s not very crucial to the current plot. You don’t have to go back and go through all of Julia’s childhood. You’re welcome to allude to a few examples to back up the statement, but I would recommend one or two instances of showing and telling the rest.

Write What You Know
This one makes me scoff. I once heard a joke that “If every writer wrote only what they knew, we’d have too many books about English professors having affairs with young coeds.” And there is some truth to that. “Write what you know” has been misinterpreted as “Write only about your experiences.” I believe that it should read “Write what you have thoroughly researched”. I think that an author has a responsibility to research their subject matter and their characters. Obviously, it’s easiest to write from our own perspectives, but don’t be afraid to research your subject matter and explore new material. Contact experts, explore your subject and research your topic!

Write For The Market
This piece always makes my heart drop a bit. One thing I hear a lot of is “You should write a book about blah blah blah. That would sell well!” And yes, it is true. If you want to make a career of writing, you should be thinking about sales. But I wouldn’t really want to write the stories or tales of someone else. I don’t want to write what’s popular or in the market. I want to write what makes me happy and that I want to read and get excited about. So, don’t write for a market. Find your market. That’s the only way you’ll be happy with your work.

Do you agree? Disagree? What’s the best writing advice you’ve gotten? Comment down below!

Man’s Best Friend(s)

When I was about…let’s say 5 or 6, we got a dog. It was the first dog I’d ever had of my own. We got Rex as a puppy from my Dad’s Friend. His introduction to the family was oddly timed, as we moved and changed towns/schools shortly after getting him. Through that transition, Rex was a big help when it came to friends (like many introverts, I was a shy child) and probably my best friend for most of my elementary school days (or primary school or grade school or whatever makes you most comfortable). Since that point, I guess I’ve always been interested in the relationships between humans and animals. It comes up a lot in real life and also plays a part in my writing.

And I’m talking about the non-mystical relationships that people form with animals. The kind of relationship formed when two individuals share a strong and powerful bond. Like Chito and Pocho, from Costa Rica, a man who swims with his seventeen-foot crocodile and plays with him like a dog. Or in 1969, the story of Christian the lion, raised by humans and still recognized them after he had been introduced to a new pride. Kevin Richardson, an animal behaviorist, was able to integrate himself into a pack of hyenas. Seriously, go Google any of those and you’ll be aching for an African big cat of your very own (But please don’t, they’re wild animals).

Through all these examples, we see a few commonalities: Trust, Respect, and Patience. I think that’s partly why I like these relationships so much and feel the need to include them in my writing. As human as we can be sometimes, it takes an animal for us to really see what we’re like when faced with a challenge. Rex was my dog and my best pal for years (he was thirteen when he finally passed) and he made me a better person for it.

Stagnant

There’s a magical force in the writing world known as “Writer’s Block.” There are many arguments to say this isn’t a real thing. Sometimes it can be boiled down to laziness and inaction (because let’s be honest, even if you love your job, everyone needs a break). But there are some days when, no matter how hard I try, I can’t get words on the page I like. I don’t like to think of this as Writer’s Block.I prefer to think of this as stagnation as opposed to a block. Sometimes, to get the juices flowing, you have to shake things up to get it going again. I like to think of it as Stagnant Writer Syndrome.

Here’s the thing: I have lots of creative ideas bouncing around in my head. However, I get burned out trying to make it into something readable if I don’t have enough energy after work (which happens a lot). On these days, nothing would make me happier than kicking back on the couch and breezing through a series on Netflix.

Still, it’s a writer’s obligation to write. And when the ideas aren’t flowing, I have a couple tricks I like to do in order to get things flowing again.

  1. A lot of times, I can’t focus on what I’m working with because I’m thinking about a later section. So, I take the opportunity to write a future segment. I work better by connecting things (usually, I know the ending before most of the middle section when I’m plotting), so having a sooner connecting point helps me figure out what’s going to happen.
  2. Writing from a different character’s perspective can help realize their motivations in the story a little differently. I like doing this for my own benefit, but these segments sometimes work into the novel to shake the reader up as well.
  3. Moving on to a completely different story/subject helps as well. Getting my mind off focusing on the current story problem usually helps me get my mind refocused when I come back to the main project. I have little 1,000 word drabbles that I like doing and sometimes share these or revisit them for later projects.

So, those are the main things I do to get out of Stagnant Writer’s Syndrome. What do you do when you’re stuck on a Writer’s Block? How do you shake yourself free?

Music, Distractions and Avoiding the Internet

One of the modern writer’s greatest challenges is avoiding the myriad of distractions available online. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Wikipedia, various writer blogs…it’s a long, dangerous black hole when you go searching for one fact or a name. Even just finding a good soundtrack to write to is a hazard on the edge of a productivity collapse.

So, how do I stay focused? Honestly, it’s tricky. I do have an active brain, so it’s important for me to focus on my project, whether that’s editing a current story or working on some new writing.

The first thing I do? I shut off the wifi on my computer. Unless I absolutely need to check a fact, my computer doesn’t even get wifi. My phone gives me important notifications, but I know if I open the internet on my computer, I’m just going to spiral into the deep, dark corners of the internet.

After the internet distractions are appropriately removed, I find a good piece of music to work to. I like movie soundtracks a lot because I get distracted from my work if it’s a song with too many lyrics. I also find that movie soundtracks are a really easy way to get into the mood that I’m looking for. One of the ways I plot out stories is by listening to various movie scores until I find something that gives me the right mood.

Recently, I’ve gotten into Spotify and Pandora for moods. When working on Moon of the Huntress, I like writing to Celtic fiddle music because it reflects really strongly on the elf culture I’ve built. As far as composers, I love John Williams, Harry Gregson-Williams and Hans Zimmer for the epic, sweeping scores they provide (as well as a variety of moods, from peppy and happy to dark and brooding).

Editing, I like to limit as much as possible. It’s usually just me and some music. Using the tablet gives me the same limitations as page-by-page editing, by giving me one thing to focus on. For music, I try to keep it simple with Pandora or Spotify. Occasionally, I’ll listen to Podcasts while I’m working, but that depends on how well my brain is cooperating.

What do you like to listen to when you feel the need to focus? Do you listen to music? Put on some movie you’ve seen a million times? Do you only work in absolute silence? What is your preference?

Writing Spaces

Every writer has a workspace. For some, it’s a glamorous library with reference books and a massive desk. For some, it’s a busy coffee shop or a study carrel at the local library. But I don’t quite have the budget for the glamorous library office or the focus to work in a coffee shop on a regular basis. For me, my workspace is a kitchen table.

I have dreams of having an office or some other workspace. But for now, when I sit down to write, I have my kitchen table. Hardly glamorous, but it keeps me focused. I’ll come home after a full day, drop my work stuff on the couch and settle in for some writing. I have a nice view of the tree behind my building, a nice comfortable chair (which I got for free) and space to spread out with any references I need.

Plus, I have a foolproof way to keep my table from getting cluttered in the day to day mail.

Yeah, it’s a folding table (for those wondering, the other side can also unfold). I tend to get distracted easily while editing, so I’ve started editing the PDFs on a really simple iPad app. It acts like printed paper and makes me look at each page carefully instead of scrolling too quickly and missing something (it’s also great for bringing to the breakroom at work). I’ll fold the table up for this process and basically use the remaining table real estate to hold my tea/phone while I work. It keeps my computer out of reach and internet distractions aren’t as easy to give in to.

I keep lots of random things in the drawers: pens, stress balls, my dice for D&D. Generally, the drawers are too small for anything especially useful. There are a couple of books there on craft and style, one or two notebooks of ideas for when things feel a little stale and I need to shake off the dust. I also have a couple of fantasy specific books. The contents of this will change as needed, depending on what I’m working on.

Most importantly, like any ace stereotype, it gives a good space for my plants.

The little one in the coffee cup is a ponytail plant named Millie. The big snake plant next in the squared pot is Merlin. The bamboo plant goes by Sully and the little succulent I call Brioche (like the bread). They’re good support and attentive listeners when I’m talking out the dialogue.

When does a story start?

As I’ve been working on editing Moon of the Huntress, I’ve been thinking a lot about when this book really started. Did it start with the idea or did it start at the first word?

I guess it really began in late January 2016 (maybe a little earlier). I had just moved out to Seattle and made some friends, but we were looking for something to do. And, I’m not ashamed to admit it; I suggested we start playing a game every week to keep our friendship together. Yes, I recommended we try to play Dungeons & Dragons.

For those of you who have been encased in glass for 30 or so years, Dungeons and Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules with Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. It comes with a basic set of rules that define the world and gameplay, but the players, the Game Master and the chance of dice rolls decide the end action. If you haven’t had any chance to play, I highly recommend it. Failing that, there’s lots of podcasts/videos on Youtube of other people playing which can be very funny and enjoyable. A couple I can think of off the top of my head include Critical Role (Geek and Sundry Youtube) or The Adventure Zone (Maximum Fun Podcasts).

But, back to Moon of the Huntress. This particular game of Dungeons and Dragons was started in late January or early February (historians can dispute this in the future). Our first official game was to create our characters and establish the world a bit. One thing I wanted to do for the game was to give everyone a ‘secret’ assignment, a reason why they were on the road that the other players didn’t know yet. My friend Kate chose to play as an elf ranger named Eryn, who was on the road looking for her sister. I started thinking about where her sister was and where that road would lead. And then, I had an idea.

Sadly, our group fell apart (fun fact: D&D actually stands for Distance & Duration, the true enemies of any long-term campaign). We still hang out frequently, but I was left with a stack of notes, a collection of characters and a few ideas rattling around in my head. With Kate’s permission, I decided to write out her story myself, adding characters from the campaign along the way. And so, on April 28th (if my hard drive is to be believed), I started writing.

Now, here we are. Depending on how you look at it, we’re either over a year or almost at one year from when we first started playing. Now, I’m in what I like to imagine is my final draft and starting to present my work to agents. I don’t know where this road will lead, but I’m happy to ride it for as long as it goes.

What’s your favorite story origin? Is it Stephen King’s Carrie? J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter?  Let me know below!

Subscribe to the mailing list

* indicates required

Recent Activity