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Hello, Internet!
So, today was a pretty good Friday. In French class my friend K and I started planning our epic, French fantasy graphic novel. We flipped through a French-English dictionary, picked out random words, then based our characters off of them! It was so much fun--we have a complete plot, six very flawed, very exciting characters, and tons of enthusiasm to get started.
If only all writing worked like that.
I've heard countless times, and always kind of knew myself, that working in collaboration can be both rewarding and fun. Too bad I'm such a control freak and couldn't stand to give up that much of the process. Still, cool idea, I need to try it one of these days.
After school today I walked down town, talked to my favorite grumpy (but nice) nurse, and got shot up with a nice dose of dead Hepatitis A virus ;) In other words, I got my vaccine today, and that's one more thing I can cross of my list of things to do before Cuba. We're leaving in 16 short days--I think. I'm horrible at counting. How many days are in April, again?
It was warm today, and fairly sunny. Now it's a bit overcast. I'm afraid it'll rain, although that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Everything is a pretty, young shade of spring green and the tulips are blooming heart-beat red weeks before due.
Peace and love,
Erika
Friday, April 16, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
scintillating saturday
Yesterday was my name day. All 365 days of the Czech (as in Czech Republic, where my mother is from) calendar have names attached to them (or, rarely, it's a holiday--like Christmas--and therefore has no name attached). April 2 is Erika.
That was all well and good--my mum bought me some very pretty flowers that are on my desk as I write this--and it got me thinking slightly on the highly complex idea of the name.
You have a kid (or a cat, or a dog, or a fish, or a particularly well-loved inanimate object) and you slap a name on it. A calling card, really, that can be as simple as, "Hey, You!" or as confusing as Ahkmarethnian.
So maybe the idea of it isn't so hard. But naming my characters has always been a bit of an obsession for me. I hoard names. I write them down in spiral notebooks that I return to years later and guffaw at. I collect them and wait until just the right character comes along so that I can give them a name that's been burning a whole in my imagination.
I visited the Nanowrimo forums (yes, they do exist outside of November, and believe me, they're just as addictive) and clicked on the "Adopt a Name" thread. Half an hour later, I had a page full of my cramped, half hand-writing half printing of everything from dreamy first names, to ironic pet names.
I was most certainly not disappointed.
I always tried to go for a certain kind of distinction in my character names. Heaven forbid I decide, in a moment of creative weakness, no doubt, to call someone "John" or "Kelly". From real life experience with certain people and their names, I had a mental list of all sorts of associations. For instance, Meryl on its own reminds me of a terribly thin pre-puberty girl with dark eyes and a perpetually runny nose. Paired with just the right last name, however, and, like Meryl Streep, you have the picture of class and elegance.
Just recently, however, I've found myself using simpler names. My pages are now littered with Claires, Erins and Sams. They make the reading easier, are certainly quick to spell, and let the reader focus on the character.
What do you think? When you read or write a book, how much focus do you put towards the names of characters? Or, conversely, when you come across a name in a book that has 4+ syllables and dozens of complex letter combinations, do you get scarred off, or, like a friend of mine, just replace it in your head with a simple name and move on?
When you read a book and the MC has a name that you positively can't stand, does it affect your attitude towards the work?
That's all for me today. My room is filled with the toxic tang of freshly applied nail polish, and strewn with the rewards of a busy shopping day (including a fabulous cook book I can't wait to try--whoop, whoop!).
Have a great Easter,
Erika
That was all well and good--my mum bought me some very pretty flowers that are on my desk as I write this--and it got me thinking slightly on the highly complex idea of the name.
You have a kid (or a cat, or a dog, or a fish, or a particularly well-loved inanimate object) and you slap a name on it. A calling card, really, that can be as simple as, "Hey, You!" or as confusing as Ahkmarethnian.
So maybe the idea of it isn't so hard. But naming my characters has always been a bit of an obsession for me. I hoard names. I write them down in spiral notebooks that I return to years later and guffaw at. I collect them and wait until just the right character comes along so that I can give them a name that's been burning a whole in my imagination.
I visited the Nanowrimo forums (yes, they do exist outside of November, and believe me, they're just as addictive) and clicked on the "Adopt a Name" thread. Half an hour later, I had a page full of my cramped, half hand-writing half printing of everything from dreamy first names, to ironic pet names.
I was most certainly not disappointed.
I always tried to go for a certain kind of distinction in my character names. Heaven forbid I decide, in a moment of creative weakness, no doubt, to call someone "John" or "Kelly". From real life experience with certain people and their names, I had a mental list of all sorts of associations. For instance, Meryl on its own reminds me of a terribly thin pre-puberty girl with dark eyes and a perpetually runny nose. Paired with just the right last name, however, and, like Meryl Streep, you have the picture of class and elegance.
Just recently, however, I've found myself using simpler names. My pages are now littered with Claires, Erins and Sams. They make the reading easier, are certainly quick to spell, and let the reader focus on the character.
What do you think? When you read or write a book, how much focus do you put towards the names of characters? Or, conversely, when you come across a name in a book that has 4+ syllables and dozens of complex letter combinations, do you get scarred off, or, like a friend of mine, just replace it in your head with a simple name and move on?
When you read a book and the MC has a name that you positively can't stand, does it affect your attitude towards the work?
That's all for me today. My room is filled with the toxic tang of freshly applied nail polish, and strewn with the rewards of a busy shopping day (including a fabulous cook book I can't wait to try--whoop, whoop!).
Have a great Easter,
Erika
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