The naming of things

 While I was away on my writing retreat last week I started a completely new novel.  For me, starting means creating a detailed chapter plan.

It's about four years since I've created something completely new.  Just before the pandemic hit, and during lockdown, I decided to totally re-write two of my old existing novels.  For both of those I was using the existing manuscript as my guide, so they didn't involve any original creation.

Not so for the new novel.  And because I write science fiction everything, and the names of everything, have to be discovered.  I can't compare to things on Earth because my main characters weren't born there and have never been there.

Key names in a novel are always those of my main characters.  This time the brother and sister are white-skinned, but I wanted to give them names which didn't sound like they obviously came from any 'white' culture.  For this I find unusual first names, then maybe change a vowel to create a new name.

My starting point is usually my collection of baby name books.  I have about a dozen of them, and they have different strengths.  Some are good for finding indigenous names from around the world.  I usually don't use those as they are, but will often change a letter or two, or add one.  They often come in handy as a basis for creating alien names.  Other books have larger collections of African and Indian names, and yet others have good selections of German, Eastern European, and Russian names. 

One of the biggest tasks is matching the right name to the right person.  Certain names fit a character, others don't. It often depends on personality type.  If I've got a baddie I look for a harsher name for them, often something with a j or k sound in it.  Good characters often have softer-sounding names.  The choice also takes into account the character's skin colour and ethnic background, and their role in the story.  In the end, it comes down to an intuitive feel for fit.

The other big task in a science fiction story is the naming of places.  Again, this all has to be done from scratch.  Oh, the power of naming a complete solar system!  

The starting point for naming planets and stars is to first decide who is naming them.  Humans are likely to give planetary bodies a different set of names to an alien species.  But when using alien names I have to avoid alienating the reader by using unreadable names.

Science fiction writers are warned not to sprinkle apostrophes through their alien names.  Long names with more than one apostrophe are often unreadable.  They would probably prevent a book getting picked up by a publisher.  And these days they always have to had an ear out for how a story will sound when read for a audiobook.  It's a fast-growing market, and many publishers want to produce audiobooks to go along with the written word.

All this means that names like T'rask'taagl really have to go.  That was a character name I had in a very early draft of a book.  That character is now named Falak'ivor.  It's much more readable, but still a little strange.

The naming of things is always a crucial part of the creative process, and I'm having fun picking names for the people and places in my new novel.