Recent content by Vafnir

In my WIPs, I have way more queer characters than I had anticipated. In my first WIP, the main character is intersex identifying as female, her partner is pansexual, one character is either straight, bi or gay, it really depends on what gender the main character's sibling ends up with. There's...

Yes Yes, that is exactly what I mean. Since every single name has a meaning, it doesn't really make sense to compare fantasy characters' names and their meanings to the meanings of real life names. You're right, Vlad the impaler or just "Smith, Miller" are good examples of these, but these are...

Yeah, I'm aware of that and want to even use Hebrew names in one region of my world. In real life, this happens because, as you say, people mostly don't know the meanings of those names. Correct me if I'm wrong, but not many people name their newborn child by the personality trait they would...

By now, I've seen this piece of advice quite a few times: Give your characters subtle trait-defining names, i.e give them names with a meaning. The name is supposed to reflect the character's main personality trait, the opposite of it, or reveal anything else imporant about them. This approach...

Just like pmmg , I find myself struggling with making male characters interesting. My WIP has two female MCs (which even end up together down the road) and one male MC. I personally find the female ones pretty captivating with their multifaceted personalities, but the male seems rather bland. In...

I realized that when I came up with the name "Euthastasia", that's why I'm thinking of making her the goddess of the Inevitable, which is life and death. This would fit the theme of my book even more due to the fact that people are indeed reborn after fulfilling a one hundred year long journey...

Well, some say an inspiration is fine, as long as it's not a complete rip-off, which wouldn't be the case. Guess I do worry about it too much for that moment. Quinn is, in fact, a gender-neutral. I have known at least one dude who has that name. Also, Quince is a male character in my story...

First of all, thank you for your opinions so far, they started helping me sort things out. I don't dislike any of these names, this is not my issue here. The only thing that somewhat irks me would be the other spelling of "Quince". "Quins" just doesn't sit well with me, but there are worse...

Hello everyone, it is me again. With a topic about my characters. Again. I am a sucker for creating meaningful names for the characters in my stories, or in any other media for that matter. I believe there is always a source of inspiration for a name or concept, even if we're not able to put...

While I don't have specific terms for the character archetypes I'm going to describe, there are a few I seem to like more than others. One of them is the unapproachable, kind of aggressive and offensive character full of distrust, who seems to be spiteful towards everyone, at first. They don't...

Since creatures such as giants, gnomes, dwarves, trolls and gargoyles have aleady been named, there are different fairies associated with earth, like bluecaps inhabitating mines. Then, there are Monopods, a certain kind ofo dwarf-like creatures with just one large foot. Oreads are mountains...

When it comes to character names, I would almost say I overthink it. Sometimes it costs me way too much time and effort to come up with names which would suit the character, names which are not too much "on the nose" with the so-called "hidden meaning" or something. That's why I think of giving...

As it's been the case for some people who commented before me, my cast of characters in my both WIPs (the second just being a follow-up of the first) is quite female-heavy. For some reason, it is easier for me to come up with interesting female characters than male ones (myself being male), it's...

I believe you're right. Instead of forcing a change of the charatcer's gender, giving them more life and personality might be a go-to fix. But at least as of now, I would say that my male characters are quite "living", considered their backstory and personality, despite them being villanous...

I would say I am not one that can't change a character at all, just because "that's how I see them in my head", even though I'm not sure (at least now) how I would like to change them, if it's necessary in the first place. It's more like I have an initial picture of a character with a...