Starsreader
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I always find the names chosen for all characters so marvellous and fitting to each occasion. where do you find them or from what sources do you make them up / create them? Penric, Ingray, etc, just lovely!
Lois McMaster Bujold
Names are always a burden to me. When working in a made-up universe like Chalion or the Wide Green World, I often brainstorm potential name lists in advance of the story, so that when a new character pops onstage I don't come to a dead stop for three days trying to figure out his/her/its name. I have a prefab list of dozens, and just run down it till one pops out as feeling right for that individual. This also allows me to create a more uniform sense of language/name groups and so on. (Taking a region on a map, chopping all the names into syllables, and recombining them can lend a subliminal sense of language/culture unity to a name list.) In working in the Vorkosiverse, I am very happy to now live in the age of Wikipedia, where I can pull up lists of authentic ethnic Old Earth names at a mouse-click. Beats the heck out of the days when all I had was the local telephone directory and some syllable-scrambling.
Ta, L.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Jonathan Palfrey
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Penric can get water from the air, and also turn it to ice. I wonder what else? Purify seawater (any advantage over air?)? Concentrate alcoholic drinks (like winter wine but faster)? Separate water into hydrogen and oxygen (for what purpose?)? Weld objects together (maybe not just metals)? Heat food like a microwave oven, or freeze it? Nuclear fission, probably not. Nuclear fusion, surely not.
Sarah Cranston
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Not a ?, just a fangirl gush :-) I loved the prophecy ending Curse of Chalion: “When the souls rise up in glory, yours ...shall be the prize of the gods' gardens. Even your darkness shall be treasured then, and all your pain made holy.” It reminded me of other words I've long treasured, Malachi 3:13-4:2, https://bit.ly/2PdvP9t - in God, my pain is transmuted to treasure, never wasted. Thanks for the moment of beauty!
Talli Ruksas
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Why do you think Aral wasn't more of a father figure to Ivan? How would it have worked if Ivan had become count of the Vorkosigan district? Name changed? District name change? There's already a Count Vorpatril... Martya named after anyone? Which "milady" paid for Roic's vacation time in WG - Cordelia or Ekaterin? What size were the black and white tiles?
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