What’s in a name? asked Juliet. That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet.
True, and beautiful, as is so much of Shakespeare, but what if the thing you’re naming isn’t real, being something you’ve just invented for a work of fiction? It has no smell to begin with, then, and can’t be experienced by any other features (except for those you describe on the page). In that case, the name needs to do a lot of heavy lifting. And finding a good, solid name for your imaginary thing can be absolutely golden.
In the book I just read – Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh – there was such a thing as ‘shadowspace’, which essentially described a hidden dimension with its own separate, fundamental laws. Shadowspace provided a means of rapid space travel from one distant point to another. Or at least that’s how I understood it. In fact it was the name that made me feel like I understood the concept a lot better than I probably did. (Pure brilliance, by the way – and I kinda wish I’d thought of it first).
As soon as you give something a good name it stops mattering as much how the thing actually works – you think you know what it is, even when the details are a bit hazy. I relate it to a lightbulb: I know what a lightbulb does in the vaguest sense, know that if I flip a switch it lights up the room, but I probably couldn’t give you a full and detailed explanation of how one works. I might mumble something about electricity and filaments, but that’s about as good as you’re going to get from me.
Naming stuff for fiction is fun. My first name for the mindless skeletal minions summoned by the Soldier in Glassheart, largely made of old sticks, stones and debris, were Upsticks, but an editor thought this sounded a bit comical. I rethought, and they became Rattlesticks. I liked it. Rattlesticks evoked rattlesnakes, to me, both the sound they make and the danger of them – as well as the old rhyme about ‘sticks and stones’. Names can be used for misdirection, too. In Mountainfell, magic is real and known as luma. However, to begin with we wanted to show that the villagers in the book hated magic, and thought it was evil and scary – something to be avoided. Luma just sounded too nice. So my editor suggested giving them a different name for it. That’s how I came up with hex magic, and the idea that someone could be ‘hex addled’.
Writing tip:
If you’re trying to name something in your writing, think about how the sound of the word makes you feel. Certain words just sound right for the thing they describe – check out this article for more if you’re interested. And something I’ve noticed many writers do (me included) is to reference current or old words, things that already exist, or cultural reference points like sayings or rhymes (as with the rattlesticks). Here’s something else to think about: will different groups have different names for the same thing, and if so, how will their name reflect how they feel about it? Have fun!
Writing news:
I’ve had some brilliant news this month, but (as with so much to do with publishing), I’m not allowed to share it yet. What it means for me however is that I’ll soon be back to work on a project. In the meantime I’m still trying to write my adult sci fi. I’ve had a few false starts with that one now, but I’m really happy so far with how this latest attempt is working out. More news on the news for you soon, I hope!
Recent reads:
My reading has been super slow lately, but I’m going to try to finish The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto soon – an absolutely beautiful book but one that deserves a lot of thought and attention, I think, so I’ve been waiting until I can give it that. I’m also listening to the audiobook of Project: Hail Mary by Andy Weir, which has just gone off in a surprising new direction that I definitely wasn’t expecting!
Enough for now! I’m off to go see Inside Out 2 in the cinema with my kid soon. As ever please feel free to leave me a comment, or ask me anything. Until next month x
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