Character names

[Balinor]

Hey Mark, i've been toying with the idea of writing a book for a while and i've just written a draft prologue abd first chapter but i've left the names out coz i can't think of any original or suitable names . How did you come up with the names of your characters and if anyone else has any ideas could you post them here.

[Mark Robson]

Originally Posted by Balinor

Hey Mark, i've been toying with the idea of writing a book for a while and i've just written a draft prologue abd first chapter but i've left the names out coz i can't think of any original or suitable names . How did you come up with the names of your characters and if anyone else has any ideas could you post them here.

There are a couple of good threads on this subject in the Aspiring Writers Forum. If you do a search using the search facility on the tool bar for threads about 'character names', you will find lots of suggestions. I posted the sources of my names in amongst those threads, but to give you a few ideas: baby name books are good, world maps are useful (I use pilots' maps because they use a lot of five letter reporting points to navigate by - Jenna, Matim, Tondi and a load of others came from here.) I also take note whenever I hear of people with unusual names and I use these too. Femke was a girl I met in Cheltenham at a booksigning, Alix was a girl in a school I was visiting, Veryan was at another booksigning. I also keep my eyes peeled when I'm abroad. Akhdar is a brand of bottled water in Oman, but it sounded like a great name for a magician, for example. Hakkaari is actually a derivative of the name of a town in Turkey. Names can be drawn from all over the place.

[Balinor]

thanks for the suggestions