Gisela Foster
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
How do you select the names of your characters in your books ?
Lois McMaster Bujold
With difficulty. For the books set on our world-ish, I can use real-world names, calibrated for cultures and times, but in the pre-internet days finding such wasn't as easy; my thin local phone book had rather slim pickings. Nowadays one can Google [country name] surnames/popular names for men/whatever, and be spoiled for accurate choice.
For my fantasy worlds, I've found it speeds things up to generate name lists in advance, from which I can just select if a new character or place pops up. (Main characters get first pick and more cogitation.) One trick to make names sound as if they all come from the same language base is to pick a place on a map (or the index in a history book), take the names found, break them down into syllables, and remix them into euphonious and pronounce-able new names. (I'm also trending to "shorter", these days.) Then stare at the list till the right name for this person or place presents itself. A prudent last step, which also wasn't possible before the internet, is to do a quick name check and make sure one hasn't accidentally given a character/place a made-up name that is something unfortunate in another language.
Ta, L.
With difficulty. For the books set on our world-ish, I can use real-world names, calibrated for cultures and times, but in the pre-internet days finding such wasn't as easy; my thin local phone book had rather slim pickings. Nowadays one can Google [country name] surnames/popular names for men/whatever, and be spoiled for accurate choice.
For my fantasy worlds, I've found it speeds things up to generate name lists in advance, from which I can just select if a new character or place pops up. (Main characters get first pick and more cogitation.) One trick to make names sound as if they all come from the same language base is to pick a place on a map (or the index in a history book), take the names found, break them down into syllables, and remix them into euphonious and pronounce-able new names. (I'm also trending to "shorter", these days.) Then stare at the list till the right name for this person or place presents itself. A prudent last step, which also wasn't possible before the internet, is to do a quick name check and make sure one hasn't accidentally given a character/place a made-up name that is something unfortunate in another language.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Michael
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Hello! I am doing my first read through of the Vokosigan Saga, and in The Vor Game, there is the Laskowski base. In High School, I had a math teacher/mentor/friend, George Laskowski, who also wrote a sci-fi zone, Lan's Lantern. Is this base named for him? If so, that's quite an honor (and a well deserved one, in my opinion. He was a great person), from such a distinguished author as yourself!
Maya Chhabra
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Hi! I'm a fan of your books (both Five Gods and Vorkosigan) and heard you were on a panel about The Untamed! I was wondering if you have watched or are interested in the show Nirvana in Fire, a court intrigue drama that is considered one of the best Chinese TV shows ever? My wife and I keep thinking of some similarities to Vorkosigan due to a physically disabled hero who keeps an intrigue plot moving in creative ways.
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