11 Influential Works

 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.  The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. ~ Philippians 4:8~

 Here are ten books that have stayed with me.  I'd been planning to do this for a long time.  Some of these are books that had a big emotional impact on me when I first got into reading.  They have shaped me in some way or another and made me who I am now.

1.  The Final Storm by Wayne Thomas Batson (last book in the Door Within series) Yes, I know, the writing isn't very good (some say it is choppy and too Christian and could have been better).  But this was the first book that made me set it down and just stare at the wall for a few minutes before reading on, with tears and a big realization.  And it made me very emotional and excited.  It was the first book that had an impact on me.  I read these when I was ten-twelve.  Also these were the first books I'd read that were around 300 pages long.

2.  The Candlestone by Bryan Davis (for the longest time I spelled his first name with an i instead of a y) This and the first book of the Dragons in Our Midst series were my favorites, plus the Eye of the Oracle.  I read it sometime after the Door Within.

3.  Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet.  I have said it many times now.  This book (and the ones after it, which added a lot to the experience) made me see how beautiful prose could be.  The moment I started reading chapter two, I was ready to put it on my Christmas list (my family didn't think I could know so early on in the book that I would want to own it but I was ready to), and I did.  I whispered the paragraphs of the second chapter out loud over and over again.  And the story.  The theme!  And then I got to talk to the author through Facebook and learn even more about the meaning of the series.  Other things that made me really happy when I read this book: Auralia didn't want to marry anyone, didn't want to capture anyone's attention.  She wasn't boy crazy.  And I loved that so much.  Jeffrey Overstreet doesn't look down on children and I could really tell that in this series, even though the series was the first book-series I'd read that was  published/marketed for adults.

4.  Cyndere's Midnight by Jeffrey Overstreet. Second book in the Auralia Thread series.  What really stuck with me from this book was the idea that sometimes we can't save everyone, that we only have one heart, one hand.  I understood that more in the past two years.  This book is like a Beauty and the Beast sort of tale, and very good.  Also it has a very pretty cover.

5.  The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Petersen (though I haven't read the last book yet).  It made me see into the eyes of the older sibling who knows he has to protect the younger ones.  I'm a younger sibling so it was eye-opening seeing things from the older one's POV (even if he happens to be younger than me).  Janner goes through so much and is so loyal to protecting his younger siblings, NO MATTER WHAT.  If he gets beaten up, he doesn't care.  If he dies, he doesn't care because at least he will have done his job.  He's going to be there for his younger brother and shield him as long as he can.  And the theme of monsters and grace. 

6.  A Little Princess by Frances Burnett.  Very strengthening and giving hope.

7.  The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett.  This book was just.. very healthy for my character when I was growing up, and very inspiring, and I probably wouldn't be quite myself if I hadn't ever read the book or watched the movies several times.

8.  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.  First classic from the 1800s that I ever read on my own (when I was fourteen-fifteen, I think).  Yes, it did take me a year to get through it.  But it was amazing and I identified with Jane a lot in the beginning half of the book (no, my childhood wasn't terrible at all I just felt her passion for justice).  I'll be buying K. M. Weiland's new annotated edition for writers because it's amazing.

9.  The Book of Names by Dr. Briggs.  It's a fantasy novel that has a distinct flavor and kinda... gave me hope (about the same thing the thing below is about).  Also it reminded my sister and I of our own stories.  But I'm still gonna write mine anyway.

10.  The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis.  In a time when I was just... maybe going a little crazy because of early teenage years plus the intense desire for stories to never end and the dislike of my own life because it was boring, and fear that I didn't know what was real, my sister quoting Puddleglum's famous line at the end was one of the things that saved me and brought me back to reality.

11.  Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie.  The 2003 movie, more than the book, really made me ask questions about growing up and yes, I actually did cry because I knew that in the Bible Jesus always loved children and said that we should become children, that God reveals mysteries to children, and so I didn't want to grow up...  And it's harder to have faith when you're older.  That was when I made the vow that I would always stay a child at heart, with faith and humility and never look down on children or become cynical like people like Hook.  Also I've always had a lot of actual dreams with Peter Pan in them. :P He's a shadow (NO pun intended) who has led me through childhood.
 
The questions I have had have shaped me, and entered my stories.  The answers to the questions have become really important to me.  So the books that have given me questions and helped me answer them are important to me as well.
If you like, you could write a blog post of eleven works that have influenced you the most.
Or you could tell me some of them in the comments!  (:

Book Thoughts: the Giver

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia.

This is the message from the one who is holy and true,
    the one who has the key of David.
What he opens, no one can close;
    and what he closes, no one can open:

“I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me."

~Revelations 3:7-8~
 
I finished reading a book called "The Giver" quite a while ago and decided it was high-time I write another blog post.  I enjoyed the book.  It made me think about various things.  Not as much about political things, though.
 If you do not know what it is about, I will explain a little bit, but it is better to read the book for yourself.  Also, a movie based on the book is coming out pretty soon.

The Giver was written in the 90s, but it surprisingly still applies to today.  Things we now know are wrong with the world... were things that have been around for a long time, before we knew about them.
The story takes place in the future in which we can't see color anymore.  Only black and white.  And we can't make choices anymore.  And there's no snow.  But also, there is no pain anymore.  And no crushes on boys or girls, which also means, I suppose, no lust.  No emotions, and no love.  But.  There is perfection of language, everyone using correct grammar and the right word for things can't be stressed enough in this world.  Everything is clean and organized, and we have reached the height of potential with technology.  It's basically a Utopia, but from the very start, you know something is wrong.
It is a pretty short read, (and it's on youtube on audio book if you want to listen to it) but so full of ideas.  It's one of those books I think everyone should one day read, and discuss with family or friends.

This book made me think about how we overuse the word "love", how every choice we make is important, and how we are responsible for the choices we make. 
Most of the time, when we use the word "love," we really mean, "extremely like".  But that isn't love!  There are many sides to love.  It's mysterious and beautiful.  It's not just caring about someone's well-being.  It's kind and patient and not complaining or prideful... and well, read 1 Corinthians 13.  Even all that doesn't completely describe love, and love isn't the only thing that describes God.  But... I'm going off topic.
  
Children don't normally understand political things when they're young.  That stuff goes over their heads.  They don't normally care about it, because it doesn't affect their immediate happiness much.  We all come from different backgrounds and different reading habits, and different views, of course though. 

There were a few things I didn't agree with that I felt was obvious the author was trying to say through the story, but those were minor things.  And... even if people disagree about a book, that's what makes the book all the better, because it makes us talk about it and think about it.  A book or movie that doesn't offend or challenge or inspire you isn't as worth reading as a book or movie people see differently.

This is the sort of book that shows the power of story, the potential of story through details and themes.  It only mentions a few things in passing, but even just the mentioning of them makes you ask questions, and think.

For example, the removing of colors only made sense (why the government would do that) when the narrator mentioned the color of people's skin.  It made me think about how today's culture is obsessed with equality in every way. 
But we /are/ equal.  Color doesn't change that.  And yet the world ignores this and keeps fighting the air and making a big deal about whether or not someone in a movie/book has dark skin or not. 

I was a bit shocked at the dishonor it was to be an actual birth-mother, in the setting of the story.  Shouldn't they have respect?  The narrator didn't explain. 
And yet the receiver - the one who receives memories of how things used to be - was given the most respect because they... oh.  Because the government didn't want to have to bear pain and the receiver was their way out.  I still don't get it though. 
Then there was the issue of controlled population and sort-of abortion but not, that was present in the book. 
People shouldn't be killed because of fear.  The world was created to thrive under our ownership of it. 
I've realized how often we make decisions that are informed by fear of what may happen.  It may be painful or uncomfortable to go through something.  But a lot of things we don't do because of fear are things we should do anyway.  We are called to be brave.  To create.  To encourage.  To tell the truth.

Then there was the issue of war in the book, and how terrible it was.
And also the question of choices.  Someone always has a choice, even if it's greedy people who are in control.  That's what makes it unfair, because if no one can make the right decision, than the people in control will make mistakes too, no matter how much they try not to.  It's just in our nature.  But still, we can't let robots make decisions for us instead of ourselves.  It's our responsibility to choose for ourselves, different things.  Because we're all unique, and not everyone will understand us.  And because we were given free will by our creator.  Of course, there is a right and wrong, and there will always be a right and wrong.
It is easier to live without having to make choices.  It doesn't require courage and confidence.  It only requires gullibility and blind trust in whoever is making a choice for us.

This book would have made a little more sense if Jonas was 13 instead of 12, but it worked well anyway.  I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone younger than 13, but of course I suppose it depends on one's maturity and not their age.  Age doesn't define how prepared someone is for whatever task is to be given them.
If these questions and/or themes appeal to you, along with science fiction, you may like this book. 

I'm interested to see how they will make the movie, whether it explores those questions better or not as much as the book.

Have you read The Giver?  What do you think of it?  And are you excited about the movie?

How will you Write your Story?

(pinterest)

 “Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.” - C.S. Lewis

There are so many questions one will have to ask oneself about his story at some point, and at the beginning, we know almost nothing except a glimmer of an idea.  When you decide you want to make a story, there's all the possibilities of what could happen, but what do you feel when you think of your idea?  Mystery?  Ominous?  And what important theme do you feel so very strongly about that you know will be the heart of the story?  a theme is like a moral or positive character trait proven good by the story.  Or something harder to explain.
The heart is the most important thing.  The carrying out of writing the story will come, but what makes your story emotional? 

Who will do what, and why will they do it?  Character backstories build up the blocks for who they grow up to become.  You'll have to figure out what your story will be.  There are so many pieces, ideas, squares to consider putting in your quilt, threads to consider weaving into your tapestry.
This is the hardest part for me at least, because it always seems to take so long to figure it out, and I'm always worrying my story's not right, that I've missed something, that it doesn't really happen this way.  I'm partially beginning to think that this is something you will have to go through continuously, even when you've almost finished writing a few drafts of the book.  I suppose we shouldn't worry about it so much.  If the Muse interrupts, if the story stops us in the smack dab middle of our work, we must listen to it and do what is best for the overall story.

This whole post is a bunch of questions we should, at some point in writing the story, answer for ourselves.  There's no particular order to answer them in, because you won't know everything at the start, and even if you think you know how it happens, your muse could pop up and say, "Nope.  You've got it wrong.  The character doesn't do that.  They weren't raised that way.  And now your story will have to be completely rewritten again in order for it to make sense."
You won't be able to answer this incomplete, scattered list of questions in one sitting either, unless you've already got your story completely figured out, and even then, you may only think you know your story.  But keep asking them and trying to find their answers, even if you don't have pen and paper handy.  Edgar Allen Poe said "It is this never thinking, unless sitting down to write, which causes so much indifferent composition."

How does your story excite, interest, intrigue you?  Remember, you're writing for yourself.  You're the first reader and if you don't like it, other people might still like it (I know, that was weird, I thought I was going one way with that thought, but then I went the other way).

I've learned over the last year that stories are important because the good ones are about the choices the characters make that reveal what sort of character they are, and how their character is developing.  They aren't stories about things that happen to your characters, but about what your characters do. They're not passive.  Don't let them be.  Everyone's trying to control their own piece of world.  How do they succeed?
How do your characters change over the course of the book?

Once you know what your story is, and can put it solidly in one form and look at it and find no fault in it (after changing it over and over again), like an outline of sorts or writing it as if it were a fairy tale, something else comes up.
This is the question of HOW you will tell this story.  Will you make it a novella, short story, big book, E-book only, series, tv show, movie, manga, anime, cartoon, album of songs with lyrics telling the story, or a bunch of paintings that hint at it?  Or will you just leave it alone, buried within the earth, and pray it never comes up in conversation?
There are so many ways to tell stories now.  We are more equipped than before to tell good stories, and stories are even more available to us than they were ten years ago.
And because there are more books, there is the bigger realization of how many ways there are to present your story.
And if you decide a book is best, how are you going to write it?  What pacing?  Will you sum up what happens here, or will there be no scene breaks, just one very very long scene from birth to death account of someone's life?  What will you tell?  What will you show?  What will you leave out?
Will you write in third person or first?  Past tense or present?  Or will you do what I'm doing now and write in second person, future tense? :P

Where will you begin the story?  The day your main character is born (not that you should do that), or after a bunch of stuff has happened, or what?  What age will your characters be for most of the story, or is your book about a character's whole life?  Are you saying something about growing up?
Is your story about one person or a family or community of people?  Or is it about two: best friends, look-alikes, siblings, or lovers?  Or is it about a few random (but not random) people that a certain event affected each of their lives?
Remember why you are writing this particular story, what its theme is.  If you know its theme, it will help you narrow down how to tell your story.
Tone is very important too.  Is your story aiming to be: light-hearted, contemplative, suspenseful, literary, contemporary, dark, mysterious, funny, adventurous, speculative, or more than one of them?  Which ones?
Most of the time, we do not know the answers to these questions when we begin writing.  We write, groping around a maze, trying to understand.  And there's something beautiful about that, because we are adventurers.
And I should probably follow my own advice.  These questions just sort of popped up in my head so I wanted to ask the world, and myself.  I hope it helps you in some way, and thanks for reading by the way!  It means a lot that people read these.
One thing I love about God is that He knew Esther would be around when her people would need her to do what she did.  We were born for such a time as this.  Be at peace now.
Food for thought.  What do you think?

Various Writing Observations

“If only it were so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human-being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

In a day, I embark on a wonderful adventure, and shall be away from my computer for five days.  The thing is, it's so very hard to write when you're so excited.  The brain swells and all you can think about is how close it is, and your fingers freeze and refuse to type, and of course your brain controls your fingers... so... I find it is so much easier to write when you have something to start with, and build off of it as if you were editing it, but you're really finishing it. 

There is so much to pray for.  Safety on a journey, a return home, someone sick, a family member dying.  The prayer requests on Facebook never stop coming.  The world keeps turning.  But prayer /is/ powerful.  Don't forget to pray for those you care about, and those you don't like too.  And don't forget to have faith that something good will happen.
In my experience, expecting God to answer a question increases the chance of it getting answered.  But he may not answer you in a way you expect.  He will not always do what you want him to do.  But he knows what we need more than we know what we need.  Also in my experience, the more I trust him, I see his faithfulness and goodness.
Just like a character in a book.  The way out isn't always the easiest.  If our characters knew what we the author put them through, they most likely wouldn't like us.  But God is always with you, ready to comfort you if you allow him.  The world needs more prayer warriors.

I wanted to post a few observations/opinions on writing.  Note: these are simply opinions.  Do not take them for more rules to follow, but possibilities to think about.

When you're learning/hearing/reading about a story someone is writing, don't compare it to something you've watched or read or heard about.  They may think it means their story isn't original enough.  But the truth is there is nothing that's original, only our individual voice/character/style of writing, and our approaches to writing.

When writing a character, there should be something unique about their look that draws the reader in.  In one of my stories this meant black-and-white-striped stockings, jeans that only went down to the knee with a few tears in them, and an old, purple backpack that my character Melody wore.  In the movie an American Tale, it was sleeves much too long for the little mouse, that sometimes get in the way.  In the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (movie), it was Lucy's chin-length hair that made her unique.  In the book of course, she had pig-tails in the illustrations, but I don't think C. S. Lewis ever really described his characters much, unless they were unordinary like a talking mouse or Prince Caspian.  He left much up to the reader to imagine, though this was hard because we had already seen the illustrations that showed the characters. hm.

Don't tell us too often what a character /didn't/ do, because it will make us think about the action they aren't doing, and sometimes we don't notice the "didn't" in front of it.  Only tell us what the characters /do/.  This is only opinion though.  Perhaps it's okay to do.  Maybe it's just a way to be more concise.  Sometimes it is important to focus on what a character isn't doing.

And don't forget the villain's humane side.  Nothing ever started out being evil, though bad habits form bad character from the very beginning if they're not pruned like branches of a tree.  My own villain has a conscience buried deep inside him, though he hates it and longs to be rid of it.  He easily overpowers it because he's fought against it for so long.  And because of this, he feels somehow more real/scary than say... Captain Hook in the book or Disney movie, Peter Pan (he's not scary at all... well... not very... and not for long... in Once upon a Time).  Or even... say... Maleficent in Disney's Sleeping Beauty.

The movie, "Maleficent", is a different matter. *spoiler alert* Their version was merely a woman who had been wronged and so we understand why she places a curse on a kingdom whose king is greedy and evil (he's kind of more evil than she is though).  And then she regrets it and tries to even stop it.  I wouldn't call her a villain.  A villain is someone who stands in opposition of the hero. *spoiler over*  Not that Maleficent is a bad movie.  I still want to see it.  (yeah... I'm spoiled by reading way too many movie reviews)

Into the Woods (a musical) is a good example of how even the people we think are the heroes and heroines of stories do bad things, and how those things have consequences.  And they /still/ don't have a trailer for the movie yet.  Maybe they'll get a trailer for it while I'm gone.  I do know Disney is changing it a bit to make it less sad (and I'm kind of sad about that :P ) but they're not /ruining/ it... hopefully.
What do you think of all this?

"Good" Books and "Bad" books Part 1: the Interest Factor/the Question of Violence

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 
~2 Chronicles 7:14~

Tis May!  As I always say, a year goes by in the course of a week.  So you gotta use your time wisely.  I should too.  But that is not the subject of this post, so I shall move along with it.

What makes a book great?  And when someone thinks that "great" book is "terrible," does that mean they are stupid or mentally ill for thinking the book is bad?

Not.  At.  All.

It means they are different, and different does not have to be bad at all.

It makes one ask the question, "Is there such a thing as a good book, if everyone can't agree on it?"

People go about the question in a quite different way than you do.  There isn't just one equation to figure out a single, scientifically correct answer, because there's more than one way to go about the question, "Was this a good book?"
People look for different stuff in books.  Everyone has their own idea of a "good" book.   It is very hard to answer those questions.  But I shall attempt it.


A book that has a lot of suspense and made the reader want to know what happened next and had a surprise ending is what some people think of as a "good book".  That's it.
 For those people, a bad book is probably a book that's boring and slow, and hard to want to finish reading.  But there are some stories that must be slow.  Perhaps they could have been written better, or differently, so that the reader wouldn't realize they're reading a slow book because they're too interested in what's happening.

There are different definitions of "boring" as well though.  None of us will completely agree on it, because it's different for each of us.  And some of us just... don't have much patience in wanting to keep reading.  More people should be in book clubs with their friends and/or family (basically, each take turns choosing a book for everyone including the chooser to read over the course of a month, and then get together and talk about the book, and then the next person chooses a book).  It forces you to read books you may not be used to reading, and tests your attention-span/patience/perseverance in a good way, and makes you think about what you read in a way that can relate to the people you know.  And the more we discuss books, the more we realize just how different each of us is.

I personally enjoy slow stories, and sometimes even find suspenseful stories boring.  Not that I am completely immune to suspense, just that... if a story starts in the middle of danger, I won't know what's happening, and I don't always care, if there's nothing interesting to me in particular to keep me reading.  Or, if the characters don't feel... real... but like paper-cut-outs with no defining characteristic traits, it's hard for me to want to keep reading.  Because there's no heart in the characters, no feeling except for fear and shock, and sometimes not even that.  Those thrillers don't always feel like /stories/ to me, but just... action boxes.

Everyone is so fascinated in violence in stories... when we'd all agree we wouldn't like to see our own families and friends fighting to the death.  When you compare stories to real life... violence in the stories/movies doesn't normally have as many consequences as it should have.  Characters heal without scars (unless you're Frodo or someone who dies).  People are so unemotional about the violence, and some are even enthusiastic about killing the "bad guys".  But even the "bad guys" are people too!  Sometimes the only way to know if someone's a "bad guy" is if a character tells us they're bad.  We sometimes have to take someone's word for it.

Remember the movie Man of Steel (the new Superman movie)?  All those buildings destroyed, people dead.  That city was pretty much destroyed and will take a long, long, long time to get back on its feet again.  And we don't see the consequences.  The camera doesn't let us.  The internet would have been out... no jobs except rebuilding... lots of lost money.  The action was for "our entertainment" and not as a tool to reveal consequences.

Though Man of Steel was a good movie, with good character development showing Clark's weaknesses and fears for the people of earth, for example, and Lois Lane's curiosity, there was so much violence... it got boring for me whenever there was fighting.  Subtract the unnecessary scenes from the rest of the film... and I'll watch it and enjoy it a lot more.  I thought it interesting how the director knew he was making Superman a Christ figure, and didn't shy away from it.
We all want a hero.  That's why we make 'em up.  And sometimes, they're very much like Jesus.  Perfect.  Sent to earth from another world to be a good example.  Gives himself up to save everyone else.  But that's another post for another time.

My point here is, why is violence "fascinating" or "entertaining" to us?  Conflict, yes, but what about the physical aspect of the violence, minus the motivations of the characters?  The goriness, the blood.  Why are we drawn to it so much?  Why do we /like/ watching people die in disturbing ways?  And if we don't like it, why have so many movies been putting it out there?
 Remember the gladiator days, with the addiction to watching fights to the death and cheering/screaming in favor of some people and screaming/booing in dislike of weaker people.  How... unpleasant it must have been, and yet, our flesh embraced it.
Violent movie trailers have attracted people to watch them in the theaters.  I am curious about the ideas and marketing behind it.  But history repeats itself.  That's why someone wrote the Hunger Games.  And... I kind of wish it had ended in the first book with Katniss and Peeta both dying and people being ashamed of the games because of it.  That would have made a good enough point.  Though some would argue (and rightly so) that there are some themes that are better explored because there was a second and third book.

I myself am sensitive when it comes to gore, though I'm slowly getting over it (and getting shocked at myself for getting over it because I thought I would always be a child at heart, though I'm still growing up).
Of course, I do like a good cup of danger in a good story, and suspense and such.  But the actual gore that happens in stories is often unnecessary (or thrown in to conform with the world).  Unless the writers make it mean something, of course, the story in question could do without so much gore.

But that is my opinion.  What is interesting to me is not interesting to everyone else.  And this is where things get interesting to think about.
There is the interest factor when it comes to a "good" book, a book that keeps our interest and suspends our disbelief in the lie that is fiction.  That illusion that pulls us gently in and shows us a world that, even though it is fiction, reveals truth.


When I was younger I came to stories looking for adventure, and eventually becoming sad because I never wanted the story to end.  But then I realized that...  I was really longing for God, for Home, for heaven, that other world still cloaked in a mysterious curtain of shadows.  It is being saved for a special day when it will be revealed like a work of art is revealed before an audience by the creator pulling a curtain or sheet away from it.
Till then, I learn and leave behind clues as well, like all the others do, clues that lead to the ultimate mystery of God who is the answer to the question of existence.

I get an adventure every day now.  And I get to choose how I react to what happens in my life.  I myself am the main character of my story, and every day I learn something, and my character develops, even if only a little.
Most people's life-stories, if put on paper, may be considered slow books.  But they need to be filtered of anything that isn't important to the over-all story.

Because fiction isn't real life, we are told not to put any detail into the book that has nothing to do with the story goal, the development of the characters.  Everything has to mean something, or it has to go.

"Things mean things, and those things mean things."

On the flip-side of one of the first questions asked, what if a book you thought was terrible... someone else really liked?
This post was more about the difference in interests that lead us to the books we like, and future posts will be about: theme (that very important thing that makes a book so special, the very heart of the book itself) and how it influences the quality of a book.  Even though interests are not universal, good morals are, and those morals unite readers in a way.
What makes a story interesting to you?  What pulls you in and creates that illusion of reality?
And what do you think about all the violence present in many books and movies now-a-days?

What's in a Name? Advice on naming and a Rabbit Trail

But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.  To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.  A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
~John 10:2-5~

Recently I've been seeing a lot of people asking for advice on naming their fantasy or sci-fi cities or countries, or characters.  So I decided to write a quick blog post (we'll see how long this takes).  Edit:  I went back and started reading this again to find it starts out very practical... then gets creative... then I got lost on a rabbit trail.  But I hope you find it entertaining!  And tell me your thoughts about it all.


Character names can be so creative and beautiful.  It is normally hard to find the right one.  Either that or you find the right name right away and it clicks perfectly.

First, I'll start with the don'ts for choosing character names. (you don't have to follow any of these "rules".  But it would probably be good to at least consider them)
1.  Don't choose a name if you don't think it would fit in your story.  If all the names in your story are oldish, medieval names, don't all of a sudden name a character something that sounds very modern, like "Jazz".  Unless there's jazz music in your fantasy/sci-fi world and it makes sense to the rules of your world, be it historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, or contemporary.

2.  Don't use a name that is very common.  Like the name Josh.  I know at least ten boys who have that name.  Two of them are my cousins (one on my mom's side, another on my dad's side). 
The name Mary used to be a very popular name, and if this was being written long ago, people would criticize you for using that name in your story, but now it's a rarer-used name, so I suppose if it fits one of your characters, you could use it.  Find a list of the top one hundred names that have been used the most for the past thirty years, and avoid those names. 

3.  Don't use a name that is so rare (in books) that everyone knows which story that name belongs to.  Like Wendy, for instance.  Everyone knows she belongs in the story Peter Pan.  I don't know of any other stories that have a character who has that name.  Although it probably wouldn't be wrong for you to choose the name Wendy for your story. 
A side-don't that goes under this one: if you are writing a romance and do have familiar names we have all heard before, try not to use name combinations that are already used in other stories.  Like Jacob and Bella and Edward, for instance.  You already know what story they're from, even if you haven't even read the books!  For some people, even hearing one of those names will make them think of that story.  But everyone's different, and you are writing to please yourself, not your audience.

4.  Still, remember: you don't want just any name for your character.  Names bring life or dullness to your story, and you want your story to shine and sound beautiful.  You want to love every detail about your story.  Don't settle for anything you're just /okay/ with.  Kind of like how you choose whether to buy something or not.  If you don't love it, don't buy it.

Keep a consistent theme in the world of your story.  Remember, your world is fictional so you can do whatever you want.  You can make things realistic in an unrealistic way.  You /can/ do anything at all.  Stream of consciousness, a tragedy, comedy (though I must admit, comedy is hard for many people, but it might not be the case with you), or even create your own genre.  You can tell us everything you want to tell us in your story, whenever you want to tell us it.  And on the flip-side: you can keep everything you don't want your readers to know, to yourself, till the very end, or even not at all and make us readers figure it out on our own like a riddle.  Not that you should do any of these. It really depends on your style, if you have developed your writing voice, and if you have already written a lot and are ready to start experimenting.  

If you are a beginning writer though, it's a safe thing to say that you should stick to the usual advice of advanced writers (I'm not an advanced writer yet by the way).  That is, show don't tell (except sometimes), use correct grammar (learn your English, or whichever language you wish to master to write in, and cherish it), never get satisfied with how much you know about your writing craft because there. is. still. so. much. to. learn.

The masters say to read a lot, and think about the writing techniques used as you read.  We forget this one.  How much do you read?  One book a week?  One book a month?  Or do you check out so many books and barely get to read them before you have to take them back to the library (like me)?  Read nonfiction too, not just fiction.  Don't be prejudiced against nonfiction.  There's a LOT of really fascinating nonfiction out there!  There's a lot of dull stuff too but I'm currently reading more nonfiction books than fictional ones, and I don't feel like I'm missing out.  (Through a Screen Darkly by Jeffrey Overstreet, which is fascinating and about movies and art and Christianity, Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle, the one who wrote A Wrinkle in Time, and a few others)

Write every day is another one the professionals say.  This one will test you and reveal how far you're willing to go to be a great writer.  Writers write a lot of words, a lot.  And some of us are procrastinators who grow very very slowly in our skill of writing.  And some only write for a hobby.  But that's okay either way.  
Try to figure out what sort of writer you want to be now:
A writer that is very very good and maybe get published or self-published (I'll probably have to write another post about that in the future cuz I have a lot to say on both sides).
Or a writer who writes for themselves, sort of like how we sometimes write journals for ourselves only, or how I like to dance at home but not so much for other people anymore.  This sort of writer may show their finished story to a few friends and family, but not seek publication.  That's okay too.
Or a writer who posts all their work online for others to read and see what happens (there are quite a few websites where you can put your writing up and many people can read and critique your writing and review it and give it stars, plus fanfic.com if you write fan fiction).
 Oops.  I got off on a rabbit trail.
Back to my main topic!

If you want all your characters' names to be completely different, like one being Japanese, another being Irish, another being old English, for a special reason, then if it has to do with the story, or the characters' backgrounds, it may work.  

For instance, if your story was about five, say, teenagers who were thrown together from vastly different backgrounds, and the story was about them trying to communicate and relate to each-other while saving the world or something, it would make sense for them to have very different names, and it would then make your story more colorful.
 But if your story takes place in one particular place whose people are all the same nationality, your characters will probably all come from the same culture, unless a parent had a good reason for using a different name, or if it's modern day.  
Because nowdays, people use all sorts of names for their children, and are inventing new ones too.  Now, we don't care so much what nationality the name came from (unless it's something you really notice, like it being an Irish name or Spanish).

 
Try to find a sort of theme, the heart of your fantasy world, and build off of it.  Don't choose a name you don't like for a place that's supposed to be pretty. And for characters, just be on the look out for a name that just... clicks for your character/s. And sometimes the meaning of the name will directly relate to your character, or be ironic to the character's character, or be the opposite of their character for a certain reason.

Now the do's.  These are things you can do to find cool names.
1.  All the name websites.  They are time consuming but sometimes very helpful.  Babynames.com is one of them, and you can search for a name that starts with a certain letter, comes from a certain country, or has a certain meaning that you're looking for in the name for your character.
2.  Google translate.  Translate words into other languages and find something you like and maybe change it till you really like it.
Sometimes phonetics are the only way to tell if your name fits your character.
3.  The keyboard smash, in which you just randomly type letters and rearrange them to your liking. 
4.  Look in the Bible for random names and change them around.
5.  Take words you find beautiful, and change their spelling and pronunciation till you like it.
6.  Look for a name based on the meaning for the name.
7.  Figure out what sort of character your character is first, (ask them tons of questions -- I have a list of some of them on a separate page on my blog -- and see how they reply) then ask them what their name is.  Listen hard.  Take a walk.  Run.  Jog.  Drink water.  Be hydrated.  Get your mind off your character for a while.
8.  Listen to other people when you're at a park or coffee shop or anywhere.  Meet new people.  Pay attention to their names.

9.  Be a name collector.  Even if you can't find the right name for that particular character now, doesn't mean you can't find the names for other characters in the mean-time.  Bind a small book (it's very easy you don't even need to glue a cover on just stitch a few signatures together.  Google it or search on pintrest) and start listing all the names you love, what gender they're for, and the meaning of the name, and see if any of them fit a minor or major character if you need a name quick, or even a place-holder name.  Try to keep the names in alphabetical order but you don't have to.  Keep this pamphlet/homemade book nearby always.
Or just make a document on your electrical device.  But binding books is funnn... and it may be good for your brain to learn how to do it.  Here's a Scottish accented tutorial for a book. Quick explanation: a "signature" is a folded-in-half sheet of paper, and sometimes a folded-in-half sheet of paper inside one or more other folded-in-half sheets of paper.  Look at your books closely and try to figure out whether they were bound with thread, or if they were merely glued to the spine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=937rWn0YHfo

10.  Hurt your brain by trying to solve a rubix cube after messing it up.  :P (this is optional)
 There are probably many other ways to find names that I haven't thought of.
Tell me what your favorite method is.  (I borrowed a few of these ideas from a discussion on a writer's group -- Knights of the Silver Ink -- and expanded upon them)

A poem I wrote

Clues


Sometimes I am Red Riding Hood, going on a long journey.
Then I am Briar Rose too, sleeping in too much and yet growing up.
Cinderella humbles me when I sweep the floors.

Sometimes I am caught in Wonderland.
When this happens, I know I have learned
From stories of old that constantly change,
From stories retold anew, and ones that
Were forgotten long since.

When I am caught in Wonderland,
I learn something is amiss.
Not everyone is nice.
And nice is not always good.

Sometimes I am caught for too long,
And forget myself, my chores,
Forget my purpose, my quest.

But it is too late,
For the wolf has swallowed me up
And I am terrified.

Then my help comes,
And I learn.

Sometimes I am caught.
Sometimes I am lost.
Only then, the light I find is precious.
Only then, the dark around me hides.

Now I come out from the mirror
And face the world,
With new-found identity
And a glass slipper in one hand.