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ArchivesDon't take this personally, Alisa, since it's not directed toward you specifically...
in reply to a message by Alisa
but why do the many potential writers who come here seeking help becuz they can't think of their own names for characters always come up with the most cardboard, trite characterizations? I mean, every character summary we get from them sounds like an apercu from the writers of "Saved By The Bell" or DeGrassi Junior High".
Do they really think anyone above the age of 9 would be remotely interested in reading the shallow crap that would result from their efforts? (Come to think of it, many 9 year olds read Harry Potter, so by now they'd certainly recognize CRAP by contrast. J.K. Rowling, oh where were you when I was a kid?)
REAL people, or literary characters you'd care about, can't be summed up in a single sentence. And if we go along with these requests, we're just perpetuating the old trap of a person being definable by their name. The best thing we could do here, Fellow Travelers, is to ignore these requests. Please?!!
- Daividh
Do they really think anyone above the age of 9 would be remotely interested in reading the shallow crap that would result from their efforts? (Come to think of it, many 9 year olds read Harry Potter, so by now they'd certainly recognize CRAP by contrast. J.K. Rowling, oh where were you when I was a kid?)
REAL people, or literary characters you'd care about, can't be summed up in a single sentence. And if we go along with these requests, we're just perpetuating the old trap of a person being definable by their name. The best thing we could do here, Fellow Travelers, is to ignore these requests. Please?!!
- Daividh
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Replies
I don't know if I agree with you on that. I write a lot, just as a hobby, and I like to come to this site to look for names and if I can't find one that's just right, I like to get outside input. I like my characters' names to have a meaning related to their personality, not a stereotypical meaning. (Ex. If I'm writing a character who is very well mannered or ladylike I might use the name Sarah, which means "lady" or "princess".) I also like really weird, creative names that might not be listed on a names database, so it's good to ask for outside input. I think if you have a name to share or need help finding a name, this is a pretty good place to come. But I do agree with you on the summing up in one sentence thing--I never write my characters' personalities on here unless I need a name specific to the personality, I just use the time period the story is set in. (Like write now I'm looking for a name for an eight year old girl living in France in the mid to late 1870's.)
Just thought I'd share! =^)
Ellie
Just thought I'd share! =^)
Ellie
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Point well made, Ellie. And I'm sure no one here's unwilling to make suggestions for ANYONE on a specific name request for a culture or time period. We just don't want to be asked to populate the whole novel!
Hmmm, my ggmother was about 8 years old as a child in France in the late 1870s. Her name was Eulalie (but, no, I don't care for it either). Have you tried going to the top right of the home page of this site and clicking on "French Names"? Mike's got quite a list there, with meanings.
Good luck,
Daividh
Hmmm, my ggmother was about 8 years old as a child in France in the late 1870s. Her name was Eulalie (but, no, I don't care for it either). Have you tried going to the top right of the home page of this site and clicking on "French Names"? Mike's got quite a list there, with meanings.
Good luck,
Daividh
1
lol,
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Speaking of shallow crap and Harry Potter (two barely distinguishable items)...
The nine-year-olds whom I know (who frequent my library), have read the fantasy novels of Diana Wynne Jones, and recognize the crap of Harry Potter by contrast.
Check out DWJ's stuff -- which preceded JKR's measley offerings by a generation. DWJ's novels have complex *characters* -- JKR's Harry Potter books have formulized caricatures with predictable reactions to predictable situations.
-- Nanaea
The nine-year-olds whom I know (who frequent my library), have read the fantasy novels of Diana Wynne Jones, and recognize the crap of Harry Potter by contrast.
Check out DWJ's stuff -- which preceded JKR's measley offerings by a generation. DWJ's novels have complex *characters* -- JKR's Harry Potter books have formulized caricatures with predictable reactions to predictable situations.
-- Nanaea
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Harry Potter has been described as Billy Bunter on broomsticks ... however, if it gets 'em reading better stuff that we see summarised here by unimaginative authoroids, why not?
Have you read Phillip Pullman (Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass)? I find it amusing that all the God-squad sites scream the place down about Hogwarts, where Christmas is celebrated, and seem not to notice the blessed St Phillip's remarkable take on God-is-dead.
Have you read Phillip Pullman (Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass)? I find it amusing that all the God-squad sites scream the place down about Hogwarts, where Christmas is celebrated, and seem not to notice the blessed St Phillip's remarkable take on God-is-dead.
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I'm definitely in favor of anything that gets the little moppets reading. In my public library, I have a book display titled: "If You Liked Harry Potter, Try THESE!", and it features the fantasy novels of Diana Wynne Jones and others. I personally view Potter as a "gateway drug" to the better stuff.
Oh, and the god-squad I've encountered is protesting even C.S. Lewis' Narnia series these days. What is this world coming to?
-- Nanaea
Oh, and the god-squad I've encountered is protesting even C.S. Lewis' Narnia series these days. What is this world coming to?
-- Nanaea
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