Monday, April 7, 2014

A to Z: F


The A to Z Challenge is underway this year, thanks to the awesome hosts and minions. Special thanks to Arlee Bird for starting this amazing blogging challenge!!! For more information about this challenge, go to the website!

Primary theme: World of Aramatir (Setting for The Champion Trilogy) Glossary
Secondary Theme: World-Building Questions and Thoughts

F

Faith – Queen of Rrysorria, and Princess of Wylandria, married to King Stephen Merdreni of Rrysorria, and sister to 13 brothers (including Liam) – all princes of Wylandria.

Far Isles – a string of islands South and West of Destiny Island in the Western Sea

Farrald Severn – Clara’s father, Shepherd Teacher

Ferris – a former Champion of Septily
 
World Building Question for the Day: How do you find place names?
 
Sadly, as you may note in my list above, the Far Isles are named for their location. They are "far" away from Septily . . . think about the distance of the Pacific Coast of the United States to Hawai'i. However, when I named them I just couldn't seem to think of a good name so they became the "Far" Isles. And I never changed it.  I keep thinking that maybe, just maybe, they will get their own name in book 3, at least if Evalyn (from yesterday's list) ever gets a say in the matter. She might just have to tell everyone that "actually, in their native language the name of the Island chain is ____" 
 
Since my first book, I have been researching place names and making lists of the ones that I like best or that I think will fit in my books. What do you do?

7 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I brainstorm alien-sounding names for people, places, and objects for about twenty-thirty minutes and then match them up to what needs to be named.
Don't hate me because I'm lazy.
However, for my current manuscript, I wanted the alien names to have a British feel, so I did research for some unusual ones. Some I changed a little, some I didn't.

Brandon Ax said...

I look for two things. What sounds good and what fits with the language of the area.

Brandon Ax: Writer's Storm

Heather R. Holden said...

Place names are always so difficult to come up with. It honestly feels 100x harder than character names!

randi lee said...

I actually like Far isles--it's nice and simple and doesn't distract from where the place is--far. Sounds good to me :) As far as place names go, a lot of them come from some amalgamation of words I pull from some symbology book mixed with a word from some language that, typically, I just think sounds *neat* (while is fitting, of course!)

Tyrean Martinson said...

Alex - you are way more creative that I am! Wow! 20-30 minutes and that's it. I'm going to have try a mass name brainstorming session like that and see what happens.

Tyrean Martinson said...

I know what you mean.

Tyrean Martinson said...

I like the way you come up with place names, Randi Lee!