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Names
Aug 16, 2007 21:35:07 GMT -5
Post by Zylaa on Aug 16, 2007 21:35:07 GMT -5
Where to begin? There are so many possibilities for cliche names it could fill a book. A few of the worst offenders:
1. Random punctuation in the middle of names. I think we should all follow the advice of Fj0rd: "...all apostrophes in the middle of fantasy names are now to be pronounced 'boing.'"
2. Willowmoon Amythest Rosepetal MUST DIE.
3. Calling evil forces "The Dark Ones" was ominous about the first five hundred times- and sadly, those five hundred times had already happened by the middle ages.
4. Isn't "Nightshade" another word for window blinds? Or am I making this up?
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Names
Aug 17, 2007 10:58:15 GMT -5
Post by Shadaras on Aug 17, 2007 10:58:15 GMT -5
Re:1 - 's not Fj0rd's advice. It's that guy's blog she got it from's advice. But still good advice.
Re:3 - It's even less ominous when one of the people living in your head is called Dark, and one of his titles is Dark(est) One. So, yes. That would make me laugh. A lot. Except I don't read any books with dark forces called that.
Anyway. I'm probably being stupid with those replies, but oh well.
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Names
Aug 19, 2007 15:06:41 GMT -5
Post by Zylaa on Aug 19, 2007 15:06:41 GMT -5
Oh! Another thing I remembered about names: 5- In the standard relationship of guy meets girl, guy and girl hate each other and exchange witty banter only to fall madly in love, there's one recurring device that involves names: The guy will keep calling the girl some annoying nickname, and then when he finally does say her name it's considered an amazing romantic breakthrough.
Okay, I can only think of two instances of that, but that's enough. >_>
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Names
Aug 26, 2007 20:53:25 GMT -5
Post by Xicrog on Aug 26, 2007 20:53:25 GMT -5
Nightshade is a flower, I believe. It's poisonous. So. Um. DEEP SIGNIFICANCE. Or something.
I'll admit to liking using names with DEEP SIGNIFICANCE. It's a bad habit of mine. That, and dropping Monty Python and music references.
The Tales series is really guilty of trying for DEEP SIGNIFICANCE with their naming schemes. Sometimes, it works really well, like with Collete Brunel. Well, Brunel means brown, and lots of other characters have color-based names (Aurion=gold, Lloyd=grey, Sage=some shade of green, etc.) Collete is multi-layered in deepness; Collete means necklace in French, and a necklace she gets from Lloyd is a key plot object in the story. Furthermore, Collete is short for Nicollete, which is another name for Nike, goddess of victory and sister to (wait for it...) ZELOS AND KRATOS, ZOMG! And Zelos, Kratos, and Collete all are...um, they have something in common. That doesn't involve being related by blood.
Another well-done execution of this was Luke fon Fabre. Fon Fabre is a corruption of Von Fabre, which could be translated as "of flame." And Luke is from Lucas, which means light, so Luke's name literally does mean "light of the (sacred) flame."
Caius Qualls is kind of iffy. Jonathan Caius was a famous cynologist (biologist specializing in dogs and other canids) and Caius is (SURPRISE BUT NOT REALLY) a weredog. As for Qualls, switch the placings of S to the front and you get Squall, which is another word for storm, which is another word for tempest. And the game is Tales of the Tempest, geddit? Ha ha...oy.
And then sometimes...uh...Mighty Kongman. And Judas. Yeah.
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Names
Jun 2, 2008 22:31:00 GMT -5
Post by skittles on Jun 2, 2008 22:31:00 GMT -5
I think it's a cliche when a big fighter is named Brutus. I mean, HELLO, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!!
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