Friday, May 10, 2013

Eyes of E'veria Blog Tour: Guest Post + Giveaway


I'm pleased today to welcome author Serena Chase to the blog as part of the promotional tour for her romantic young adult fantasy series, Eyes of E'veria. Serena is going to give us a bit of insight into the naming of her characters–something that always interests me–and is offering up a generous giveaway so be sure and check the bottom of the post for full details!

BEHIND THE SCENES: NAMING CHARACTERS IN FANTASY

Authors have many different processes for naming their characters and my own methods vary from book to book, but I have found that naming characters in a fantasy novel (versus a contemporary work) is so much easier. If you regularly read fantasy, you might find that surprising. After all, many fantasy novels have characters with really weird names. If we look at some throughout the last twenty or so years, it’s quite an interesting list.

Think of Angharad Crewe (aka: Harry Crewe & Hari-mad Sol) from Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword. David Eddings provided us with Polgara, Belgarath, Garion, and Ce’Nedra in his Belgariad series and C.S. Lewis gave us Ramandu and Reepicheep in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. More recently, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series gave us Dobby, Bellatrix LeStrange, and Voldemort, and in Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass we met an assassin-Cinderella named Celaena Sardothien. You have to wonder . . . what made those names seem the “right fit” for the characters? And yet . . . once you’ve read the books, you can’t imagine them being named anything else!

For The Ryn and The Remedy, I employed several different methods of naming characters. For a few, a name simply popped into my head and seemed to fit (this was the case for the hero, Julien, as well as the knights, Gladiel, Drinius, and Gerrias) The name “Rose’ was a bit of a no-brainer for the beginning of The Ryn, since I found my inspiration for the books in the Grimm fairy tale, Snow White & Rose Red, but I couldn’t name a character “Snow White” and not feel like a total hack, so I kept with the flower theme and named that minor character “Lily”. Another minor character, who is turning out to be a reader favorite, is my pirate, Cazien. His name was derived from the name “Caz” meaning “vain”—and I discovered it via my very favorite naming source, Yvonne Navarro’s insanely comprehensive reference book, First Name Reverse Dictionary: Given Names Listed by Meaning, 2nd Edition.

But there are a few characters in these first two books of the Eyes of E’veria series whose names have a little more meaning—and most of those characters are from the province of Veetri: land of the Storytellers. Lord Whittier was so named because in the original draft he had a few more lines and I found him to be quite the clever one (aka: witty), whereas his Capricia, his wife, is a musician and, thus, her name was derived from a musical term that fit her personality. But when it came to the couple’s three sons, who each play such an important role in the lead character’s life, I had to approach naming with especial care. Therefore, though only one of them is a Storyteller (the other two are knights), I named Kinley, Lewys, and Rowlen after a few of my favorite storytellers. I’ll give you a moment to consider which authors I might be referring to . . . (hint: see the second paragraph of this post!)

So what did you come up with?

If you said: Robin McKinley, C.S. Lewis, and J.K. Rowling… congratulations! You’re almost as big a nerd as I am! Indeed, those three authors are among those I hold in highest esteem and, thus, named my boys from Veetri in their honor.

Over the seven years it took to refine books 1 and 2, some of the characters’ names changed, even if just to make the spelling a little easier to digest (a frequent complaint of fantasy readers is: “How do I pronounce this name?” I wanted to avoid that issue for my readers as much as possible.) Imagine my surprise, then, each time my mother pronounces the title of book 1 as “The Rhine”—for it was meant to be pronounced with a short “i” sound, as in ryn=tin! I’ve also come across many different pronunciations for Rynnaia’s name—but to me… that’s okay—because as long as she’s alive in your head, I’m cool with whatever her name is supposed to sound like to you.

What are some of the most memorable or unusual names from books you’ve read? I’d love to know! 

Thanks so much for stopping by Serena! More information on Serena and her books can be found here:


• • • • • • • • • • 

SERENA CHASE


A life-long lover of fairy tales, Serena Chase is the author of THE RYN (3/26/13) and THE REMEDY (April 2013) Together, these two novels comprise an expanded re-imagining of the classic Grimm fairy tale, Snow White & Rose Red and are the first two books in the Eyes of E’veria series.

A frequent contributor to USA Today’s Happy Ever After blog and  Edgy Inspirational Romance, Serena lives in Iowa with her husband, two daughters, and a white goldendoodle named Albus. She has been known to live vicariously through her hair, however, so don’t be too surprised if she looks a tad different from one day to the next. We all have our vices.

• • • • • • • • • • 

THE REMEDY


PURPOSED by birth. DESTINED by prophecy. REVEALED by Truth.
Now, her time has come.

Having come to terms with her long-hidden identity, Princess Rynnaia E’veri is ready to take her rightful place. But before she can join her father at Castle Rynwyk, she must endeavor to fulfill a 200-year-old prophecy and defeat the Kingdom’s ancient enemy, the Cobelds. Joined by her faithful knight, Sir Julien de Gladiel, and a gifted group of friends, Rynnaia must trek a dangerous path through canyons, forests, and into the very depths of a mountain where, if the prophetic scrolls prove correct, she will face an unknown foe, alone. Treacheries will be discovered, sacrifices will be made, friends will be lost, and love will be tested, but if even one line of the riddled prophecy is misinterpreted, Rynnaia will fail . . . and the Kingdom will fall.

Beginning at the point THE RYN ended, THE REMEDY concludes an epic re-imagining of the classic Grimm fairy tale, SNOW WHITE & ROSE RED, but the Eyes of E’veria series is only beginning . . .

• • • • • • • • • • 

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

52 comments:

  1. I think coming up with names is incredibly difficult. I love fantasy and I think the unusual names are actually very important. Luckily unusual names fit fantasy stories well. But I have the hardest time naming my kids and pets! It took me the full 9 months to decide on my daughter's name and her's actually is from a high fantasy novel (Phaedra) and my son's name is made up so could be from a fantasy novel (Jaevin). I love both of the names, but it took me FOREVER to decide on them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Even more than my kids (Delaney & Ellerie) yours will never be able to find their names preprinted on stuff at Claire's, LOL! But I love your cool names! awesome!

      Delete
  2. Heck, I had a terrible time naming my kids. I spent months no wait years, I can't imagine trying to think up a bunch of names for my characters. I would be lucky to come up with one or two and then be left wondering what to write about....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I told my husband a few years ago that we couldn't have any more kids because I wanted to save the rest of the cool names for fictional characters. It seems to have worked, so far... ;) Glad you stopped by, Heidi! Good luck!

      Delete
  3. I love how three of the characters are named after Robin McKinley, C.S. Lewis, and J.K. Rowling. That's awesome. No doubt about it. As for unusual names I've read...I'd say Katniss Everdeen is pretty strange. Although, now it's been desensitized. But Katniss? Katnip. Peeta? A pocket of bread. Not hating on the series by the way, I have sincere love for it and even dressed up at the midnight showing :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ...and now I'm feeling sheepish because I never made the pocket bread connection with Peeta. I was just thinking, "Oh, a British phonetic pronunciation of "Peter." Oy. My house just lost 10 points over that epic miss!

      Thanks for commenting, Becca! Good luck!

      Delete
  4. Names are hard! But I do like the ones I come across, cos authors make them fit, most of the time..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree. And even if they seem odd at first, they usually grow on you as you get into the story. Thanks, Blodeuedd!

      Delete
  5. I'd like to find out more? I'd love to find
    out more dеtaіlѕ.

    My webρage ... hcg diet foods

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh dear trying to think of unusual names I have come across while reading? I can't think of any right now on the spot... I loved the names in this book- I loved the whole book and can't wait to get my hands on book 2... I hope book 3 is coming soon! :) I love how you came up with the names!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. *squee!* Great to see you popping up on the tour again, Lisa! So glad you liked THE RYN!

      Delete
  7. I loved learning about how Serena came up with her character names, I always assumed that characters from contemporary novels would be so much more easier to name, look how complicated some of the ones are in fantasy novels. The characters that Serena named do seem to match the characters pretty well. Thanks for sharing this fun post with us ladies! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad you like my imaginary friends and their names! After living with this story for 7 years, I think I might talk about them almost as much as I do my kids, so I'm glad their names seem to "fit."
      Good luck on the giveaway, Jasprit!

      Delete
  8. This is such a cool post! As a wanna-be author, myself, I have to say that it's always fun to see how authors come up with their character names. I'm lucky in the sense that I came across mine quite easily, but I can't imagine how difficult it is to find great and original fantasy names. Thanks so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, Melissa! I usually only see you on Twitter--thanks for connecting over here! Good luck with the giveaway--and your works in progress!

      Delete
  9. Names have got to be among the hardest things to come up with (besides, yanno, the story and world). Whenever I'm creative writing, that's usually what stalls me. Darn those names! *shakes fist* Very interesting post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Mary! You might try the Navarro book mentioned above--but I also have a baby name book called: BEYOND JENNIFER & JASON, MADISON & MONTANA: WHAT TO NAME YOUR BABY NOW ("now" being relative, being as I bought it when I was expecting my first baby... who will turn 16 this summer!)It has a section that divides names by country-of-origin, though, and I've found it very helpful.
      Good luck in the contest!

      Delete
  10. It is always interesting to see how authors come up with the names of their characters! Great guest post!

    ReplyDelete
  11. OK, I LOVE this post. I've always had a penchant for names, and when I was younger and used to write a lot, I actually bought baby name books (yeah, imagine a 13 year old buying a baby name book - I got some weird looks from older saleswomen) to help inspire me. Names are crucial to a story. I've actually put books aside and/or not bothered with them because of a character's name.

    Fantasy names are even tougher. I can't imagine how some authors come up with some of their names. LOL

    Great post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had to laugh about your teenage book buying experience! Funny! But I love baby name books, too!--I mentioned (in a reply above to Mary) of a particular book that I use on a regular basis.

      Thanks for stopping by! Good luck!

      Delete
  12. With every book I am reading I always think about the characters names and what they mean to the author so I loved this post. Getting the back story on this book and the author's viewpoint on it all was great. Thanks for sharing, Jenny!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So glad you enjoyed the post, Jenni! Good luck with the giveaway!

      Delete
  13. Cool post! Thanks for the giveaway Jenny!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Have you read this one? Im working on it, so far its been good.....of course Serena is awesome so Id like it anyway. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ach! *blushes* thanks for the vote on awesomeness! ;)

      Delete
  15. I haven't seen this series before but it's fantasy so I'm really curious about that. For the post yeah! One of the great things in fantasy are names. I've seen some amazing ones and I always admire the authors for creativity.
    Side note: I think that this is a perfect giveaway. Can it be better than books and chocolate! :)
    Great post Jenny :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading, Tanja! The series is available on Amazon! Good luck!

      Delete
  16. I love hearing how characters are named. I think naming characters based on her amazing authors like Robin McKinley, C.S. Lewis, and J.K. Rowling is a great idea! Some of the most original names I've seen....hmm.. this is tough. I guess I really like Katsa and Po, and I'd never heard those before Graceling. Thanks for sharing this post! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ooh! I loved Graceling! And those are great names. Thanks for stopping by, Lauren!

      Delete
  17. I always come across names I wonder how they pronounce it. My most memorable one was Anne Rice's Lestat. I always pronounced it as it is in the movies. My cousin who loved the books pronounced it Lest it. Then I wasn't sure how it was pronounced. LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for dropping by, Melissa! I think one of the beauties of books vs. movies is how we are given the freedom to pronounce their names however we like (so we botch it? who is going to know--well, until we get to book club, LOL!) and likewise, the freedom to visualize the characters in our minds, rather than being told who they are and what they look like.

      Take, for example, the Percy Jackson books. Great books with (at least in the first couple of books) tween characters who are very easy to picture, due to the care the author gives to reader-friendly depiction--then take a look at the movie THE LIGHTNING THIEF, which features mid-teen characters who literally ANGERED my daughter (who is a superfan of the series) due to the way they were cast, because, even apart from the age of the characters, a few do not at all look like their book-trapped counterparts. It is the same with names--our interpretations can be either aided or skewed by Hollywood interpretation. That being said... I'm with you on LeStat. ;) It just "feels" right... Maybe because I saw the movie? LOL.

      Delete
  18. Wow, I didn't realize so much thought goes into choosing names for characters. Almost like choosing a name for your child. Thanks for sharing. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's almost exactly like choosing a name for your child. I feel very maternal toward my characters--actually had a strange and interesting conversation about that with another author this week!-- and some names I have loved so very much that I hesitate to use them on that rare off chance that I might have another baby in reality! :) Thanks for reading the post, Rachel!

      Delete
  19. Congrats to Serena on the new release! Wow... names are hard and they have to be memorable and fit the character. Like others have said, I've come across some that are hard to pronounce. I usually will just refer to them by the first initial so I don't get thrown out of the story every time I read the name :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the congrats, Erin! I totally get where you're coming from. I have the same problem in a lot of high fantasy. In early drafts, Sir Drinius de Whyte's first name was spelled with an almost-Greek/Latin flavor: Drynaeus. I changed it for 2 reasons: 1. The word "ryn" cannot be in any name that is not a child of the ruling family and 2. I wanted readers to keep their disbelief suspended instead of breaking out of imagination in order to sound out a difficult or ridiculous spelling. For me, that is a pet peeve when I read fantasy--especially high fantasy--and I just don't want to do that to anyone! :)

      Delete
  20. SORRY BUT ITS HARD TO COME UP WITH NAMES. BUT ANNE RICE HAS NAMED SOME OF HER PEOPLE UNUSUAL NAMES IN HER BOOKS. THANKS FOR THE GIVEAWAY AND GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR BOOK!SHELLEY S. calicolady60@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Shelley, for dropping by! And thank you, also for the well-wishes! :)

      Delete
  21. Echo for a girl in a contemporary novel. I thought it was so weird. I also thought Valek was pretty strange. That was in The Study Series by Mary V Snyder.
    Thanks for the giveaway!
    mestith at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love the Study series!!! And, yes, it took me a while to grab onto Valek, too. For some reason, while I had no trouble seeing the name as one that inferred "danger", I had a hard time equating it with someone under the age of 45--or handsome at all--but of course he became that way in my head as I got sucked into Maria's wonderful story!!!

      I smiled at your choice--because I actually know someone named "Echo" !! (but only 1) To be totally honest, Echo, as she was called when she was here as a Chinese exchange student, was the translation of her "real" name. ;) But she'll always be Echo to us! :)Good luck with the giveaway, Meghan!

      Delete
  22. I've come across names with no vowels. Impossible to pronounce.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mary, I feel your pain! I recently declined to review a book because there were repetitive usages of dialect with no vowels. It was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen and made me so crazy while reading that I wanted to poke my eyeballs out with a blunt object and maybe set something on fire.

      Okay, maybe that's exaggerating a bit. But when it takes a fast reader like me 4 days to grind my way to page 40? Yeah. Not finishing that one! And all because of how the author approached spelling!

      Thanks for commenting, Mary! Good luck with the giveaway!

      Delete
  23. I love hearing how authors come up with their characters' names. Robin McKinley, C.S. Lewis, and J.K. Rowling are some of my favourite fantasy authors too so I think they're great inspirations for names.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds like we have the same taste in books, Canadian Girl! ;) Good luck with the giveaway!

      Delete
  24. I just love JK ROwling. From her book, I really like some name like Quidditch ;p

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, Ashtrie! JK is about the best EVER. :) Good luck with the giveaway!

      Delete
  25. This is how bad I am at names- Even reading books I forget the characters names! I tell people when I meet them that I may not remember their name but I will remember their face. Same with a book. I'll remember the story, the cover of the book, but damned if I can remember the name of the characters.

    That reverse name book sounds interesting. Might have to get one of those. When I write fantasy, I sometimes use the words from Captcha as the names. I'm so creative!lol

    Heather

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love the reverse name dictionary -- sometimes it's just fun to page through, even when I'm not looking for a character's name! (Of course, I've also been known to page through the actual dictionary for fun,so.. yeah... I'm a nerd that way.) ;) Thanks for stopping by--and good luck with the giveaway, and your writing!

      Delete
  26. Great post! Not only have I enjoyed Serena's wonderful series, but now I know how she chose her unforgettable characters' names. Will definitely be on the hunt for the First Name Reverse Dictionary.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the love, Tamara! The Navarro book is pricey--but I checked it out from my local library multiple times before deciding to spend the moola--eventually I found it on ebay, of all places! But I'm so glad that I can just reach behind my desk and grab it off the shelf instead of having to drive 25 minutes to check it out again!

      Delete
  27. I have no idea how to pronounce (multi-syllabic) names with no vowels!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Right away I am going to do my breakfast, when
    having my breakfast coming again to read additional news.



    my page: how to use golf range finder (Www.flokib.at)

    ReplyDelete