[ SECRET POST #4239 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4239 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.



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02.
[2018 Chinese tv-drama Guardian]


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03.
[Amy Adams in Sharp Objects]


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04.
[Martian]


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05.
[Castle Rock]


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06.
[The Girl Next Door & Watching the Detectives]


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07.
[Criminal Minds]







Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 35 secrets from Secret Submission Post #607.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Character naming dilemma

[(Anonymous)]

Last night I started working on a new story. I had a pretty good idea already of the personalities of the two main characters, so I just gave them generic placeholder names and started writing. After writing a couple short scenes and jotting down some plot details, I started doing some research to try to come up with actual names for them.

It was quite easy to find names for a few background characters; I was browsing name sites and they just kind of jumped out at me. But the MCs are a bit more difficult. I've found a handful of (first) names that I think work for each of them personality-wise, but either I can't figure out a last name that I feel sounds right with the first, or I have a weird personal association with the name, or something else. And now I'm finding that the placeholder names are kind of growing on me, but they don't fit the naming conventions I was trying to use for story reasons.

What do you guys do in situations like this?

Re: Character naming dilemma

[(Anonymous)]

Can you reverse engineer the placeholder names into the appropriate naming conventions? Like, translated surnames, Giuseppe Verdi becomes Joe Green, John Smith becomes Giovanni Ferraro, sort of thing? I do that a lot, try and find an equivalent surname in the language/culture I'm using. Or, if the naming convention is more along the lines of kennings, is there a concept related to your placeholder surname that you can use? I mean, occupation-based surnames can often just go straight across, smith, archer, cooper, etc. Things like that?

Re: Character naming dilemma

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

I'd briefly thought of that last night but nothing was really clicking for me until your comment made go back through my notes just now, and I realized that the name I'd tentatively given to one of the background characters was a translated version of one of the mains' placeholder names, and that it would actually fit him a lot better. So now I just need to figure out a name for the minor character but that shouldn't be too difficult since it's not that necessary for his name to fit any certain pattern. Thank you!

Re: Character naming dilemma

[dani_phantasma]

Character name generators.

http://springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/namegens.htm

http://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/

These have last name generators for all your needs. Also try researching the placeholder name for something that fits the naming conventions you had in mind.

Re: Character naming dilemma

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

Yep, that second one was what I used to come up with names for some background characters, It's definitely a useful site! I've realized that the name for one of the background characters actually works better for one of the main characters, so I'm going to give it to him and find another name for that minor character because it's not quite as important that his name fits the pattern. And I thought of a first name that I think will work for the other MC so now I'm checking the fantasy name site for last names that will fit his background and see if I can find one that works with the first name.

I don't think I've ever used that first site so I'll have to check it out!