WHAT’S ANOTHER WORD FOR…

            I’ve addressed this multiple times but figured a fresh approach, or as fresh as I can make it is warranted. I see this question asked all the time on the Facebook forums.

            My usual answer is to figure it out for yourself so you own it. Neutral sources like a thesaurus, any book, or a list of some kind is to me a lot better than a suggestion from someone who may or may not expect anything in return.

            I’m not a fan of asking the community, though it’s a legitimate course of action which may or may not be with baggage.

NAMES

            In my many discussions on names, I’ve had a few solid sources. For real-world names, the phone book (if you can find one) is a good place to start. A baby names book is another. Then there’s just looking a bylines on some on-line articles for plenty of names. You can mix the names up to get something catchy or unusual. I have it easier since I’ve been around forever and have been exposed to hundreds of thousands of names. It doesn’t take me much to come up with something.

            Now, for fantasy and some science fiction, it can get a bit trickier. You don’t want to have a fantasy series with Jeffs and Marys and Bobs and Dorothys. To come up with unique names it may be as simple as bastardizing a real name versus just throwing some letters together to see what comes out. There is always the old fantasy book standby and altering names from your favorite books as long as they’re different enough not to be a copy. Examples of mine are Queelan, Baldar, Niin, Meleena. I just made them up on the fly or derived them from my old D&D characters which I also named on the fly.

THINGS

            In the real world, coming up with technical terms or any other is as simple as looking on Wikipedia or Google. You want a name for a religious ceremony. Look up religious ceremonies or such and comb for technical terms. In the real world, you have to stick with conventions so as not to get called out for technical errors.

            I’ve seen a lot of questions about such and such ceremony (or whatever) in a cultural setting like Samurai, Native American, or some other culture that the book is based on. In that case, if you can get a clue from someone online, that’s great. However, there’s nothing wrong with researching the culture on your own, especially if you intend to base the book after it. Getting something incorrect might offend someone.

            For fantasy and science fiction, as long as you’re not blatantly basing it on some real-world culture (where it’s obvious), the world is your oyster. A mishmash of things you’ve been exposed to works fine since you’re building this unique world. However, the key, especially with science fiction, is it still has to be technically correct (as in the science part). In fantasy, you can pretty much make up whatever you want as long as it makes sense, and you follow your own rules.

            SUMMARY

            You ever heard the term “there are a million ways to skin a cat”? When it comes to names of people and things, the same applies. The key is to apply your head.

            Happy writing!