Names.

[Ophiucha]

I do consider all these factors, and indeed tend to cut it down to families, but that was just a general scope to get the idea. As an example: Ambrosio and Antonia are named for characters in The Monk, the immortals are named for characters in The Faerie Queene save the one tied to the dragons, who is named for a character in a Lovecraft story (as are her descendants; different stories for different generations), the human character is named after Dolores Haze, and the other two families are named from The King of Elfland's Daughter and The House on the Borderland.

 

[Ravana]

…the immortals are named for characters in The Faerie Queene save the one tied to the dragons… and the other two families are named from The King of Elfland's Daughter and The House on the Borderland.

Dunsany? Hodgson? I'm impressed. Next you're going to tell me you've borrowed names from The Wood Beyond the World or The House of the Wolfings.…

And I didn't think anybody read Spenser any more.…

 

[Ophiucha]

Dunsany? Hodgson? I'm impressed. Next you're going to tell me you've borrowed names from The Wood Beyond the World or The House of the Wolfings.…

And I didn't think anybody read Spenser any more.…

I've yet to read The House of the Wolflings, but it is in my 'to read' folder of Project Gutenberg madness. I've read a few other Morris works, though, including The Wood Beyond the World and The Well at World's End (a good friend of mine bought me a book that came with both stories in it). And yeah, I have a bit of a thing for pre-/contemporaneous with Tolkien fantasy (and, to some degree, science fiction and horror as well). It's dreadful how many shelves in my house those take up, but they're often pretty cheap for such nice copies, since nearly all of them are in the public domain. How can I resist a $12, gold leaf, hardcover copy of a fantasy book?

My favorite is still Eddison, though. I know most people don't like him too much - very wordy - but I dunno, I'm fond of his style. I also call the world my story takes place in Mercury as a nod to The Worm Ouroboros.

 

[Mdnight Falling]

I swear I'm going to make a list of all the authors you guys name that I do't know and just go set up a tent in Book worm >.<

 

[Ravana]

My favorite is still Eddison, though. I know most people don't like him too much - very wordy - but I dunno, I'm fond of his style. I also call the world my story takes place in Mercury as a nod to The Worm Ouroboros.

Hmm. You'll notice that name has yet to come up in any of my posts… though I had put considerable thought into what I'd say when it did arise. I think I'll take the high (and polite) road here, and agree to disagree on that one… given that we otherwise have such an extensive overlap in tastes.

 

[Kelise]

Okay, I'm utterly stuck and have been for over two months now. I find it hard to write without the right names as I don't feel the characters that well... so I'd rather have the names sorted before June so I can do the 'write 50,000 words in a month' thread with Kate and Fodwocket and everyone else who joins us

Basically... I usually create names by blending names together based on their meanings, or names associated with the character or person the character is based on.

So the name related is 'Topher'.
Wealthy: Fu, Dara
Greatness: Jalal
Hero: Akio, Bile, Herod, Heron, Wira.

He would have been named for greatness. He's basically going to inherit a huge name full of prestige and wealth.. destined for the history books. The 'hero' part is a bit of a joke, as he's the villain, eventually.

The novel is set in the future, hence why it can't be a name we use now, really... and he'd have a weird name - one that's to be remembered.

As I said, I've been stuck on this for months. I just can't name this character because basically, he's too important for the likes of me XD If anyone has any suggestions I'd be so thankful.


ETA: Oh, all that info is just an attempt to have SOME direction to go in. If there's a good name that doesn't include any of that, that works too I just need a name for my ferocious little death-bringer.

 

[Derin]

If you need a lot of names, it sometimes helps to construct a crude language purely for name construction. It's much like other posters have suggested, if you're paranoid about judgemental linguists in your readership. The language shouldn't be overused for much else, because if it becomes obvious that your hero is actually named "Hero" and your antagonist is called "evil shadow" then your readers might be put off, but I find it a helpful cheat if I need to name more than five characters quickly. (I just use the same pseudolanguage for every story; if its only purpose is name generation then constructing a new one each time isn't necessary.)

 

[Kelise]

I only need two or three, the rest will fall under a naming system from the work setting they're in.

Luckily it's fallen into place for two characters, so yay Some days naming is easy. Other days it's a struggle. Just need to learn to not be impatient. I knew as soon as I posted here it would sort out one way or another.